Why won’t you use govt’s oxygen, vaccine manufacturing units? HC asks Centre

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Thursday expressed anguish as to why the Central government is procuring oxygen and Covid vaccines from private enterprises instead of utilising government-owned manufacturing units like Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) in Tiruchy and Integrated Vaccine Complex in Chengalpattu.

“While the Centre supported the reopening of Vedanta Group’s Sterlite in Thoothukudi for production of Oxygen, what are the steps taken by the government to work out the possibility of production of Oxygen at BHEL?,” a division bench of Justices MS Ramesh and B Pugalendhi asked. 

They noted that the Centre government’s Integrated Vaccine Complex in Chengalpattu, which was declared as a ‘Project of National Importance’ and was established with an estimated cost of around `594 crore, is lying idle for the past nine years.

The court raised the queries while hearing a Public Interest Litigation  filed by one Veronica Mary of Madurai. Mary sought directions to bring BHEL and IVC units to operation to address the prevailing Oxygen and vaccine crisis.