Kathua’s only oxygen generation plant breaks down, triggers panic

THE ONLY oxygen plant in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district, which was supplying oxygen to hospitals there, broke down on Sunday afternoon, triggering panic among residents.

Confirming this, Union Minister of State in the PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh, tweeted: “From #Kathua, I received information this evening that the solitary oxygen plant has suddenly broken down and caused panic in public about the potential shortage of oxygen in the days to come. I am in touch with the local administration and my office is continuously following it up with DC Rahul Yadav and his team.

“They have been urged to find an alternative source of oxygen without losing time and reach out to us immediately wherever and whatever level our intervention is required,” Singh posted.

The plant was supplying nearly 200 oxygen cylinders to the Government Medical College Hospital and 150 cylinders to a private hospital there daily.

The owner of the plant, Charanjit Singh, said the unit had been running 24×7 since April 18 to meet the increasing demand for oxygen. As a result, it developed some technical snag on Sunday afternoon, he said, adding that they have called a technician from Ludhiana to fix the glitch .

When contacted, Kathua DC Rahul Yadav said they have made arrangements for the supply of oxygen cylinders from adjoining Samba district where three oxygen plants are in operation. He said work is in progress for the installation of another oxygen plant in Kathua GMC.

Earlier in the day, R R Bhatnagar, Advisor to Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, visited Kathua GMC and inspected the progress of work on the oxygen generation plant, directing authorities to expedite work and ensure its commissioning within the shortest possible time.