SRINAGAR: With the revival of yet another industrial oxygen manufacturing unit, Kashmir’s daily production has crossed 3000 bulk cylinders a day, officials’ privy of the development said. The plan that was revived after being literally abandoned for more than seven years saw the impressive contribution of the armed forces with support from an industrial body.
Army sources in Srinagar said they revived an Oxygen plant that was lying abandoned to rush in Rangreth Industrial Estate. Enn Dee Gases came back to life almost a week’s work by army engineers.
It now produces enough oxygen to refill 700 cylinders, a day.
“It was vital to make this plant serviceable to increase the oxygen production capacity in the valley,” one colonel ran officer said at the plant. When Kashmir life visited the spot, there were soldiers from the military’s engineering service working in the plant.
The officer told reporters that Chinar Corps mobilised its resources to transport the required spare parts from Mumbai. The spare parts reached within just two days by an Indian Air Force plane. The moment necessary spares arrived at the plant, a team of technicians from Corps Zone Workshop, Rangreth along with civil technicians worked tirelessly to make the plant serviceable within four days, the officer said.
They said that the plant was in a state of disuse for five years and had multiple problems in all sub-systems like the Heavy Duty Air Compressor, the Chiller and even the Columnar Air Separator, which are vital parts of the plant.
“Once all the defects in the existing subsystems were rectified, the new Oxygen Filling Manifold was fitted by the technicians. The plant has been tested thoroughly and has been found to work satisfactorily,” the official said.
Informed sources told Kashmir Life that the revived plant produces the best quality oxygen in Kashmir, right now. “It belonged to an engineer who is said to be above 90 and was not in a position to manage the plant,” one senior officer who served the Industries Department earlier said. “The FCIK located the infrastructure and worked tirelessly with the government and the owner to revive it. The army played a key role in flying the spares from Pune.” The officer said Kashmir plants were producing almost 2400 cylinders a day and this plants capacity has taken the output to more than 3000 cylinders which makes the situation better.
Meanwhile, the Federation Chamber of Industries Kashmir (FCIK) President Shahid Kamili said their union made hectic efforts with Government agencies to make the oxygen plant functional.
“This would augment the much-needed oxygen supply in hospitals of Kashmir,” Kamli said. “The plant was lying defunct for the last seven years. Our team including members of FCIK, army engineers and civil administration, air force made it sure to get it completed in record time.”
