Karnal oxygen plant installed under PM Cares Fund stops working

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, May 19

The oxygen generation plant set up under PM Cares Fund at the local Civil Hospital on May 4 stopped functioning a week ago.

The authorities claim the compressor gets heated up due to technical lapses during installation, forcing them to shut the plant. The authorities have called the agency assigned the task of installing the plant to resolve the issue.

The plant was made functional by a Sonepat-based expert, Prof Joginder Singh, whom Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had approached following oxygen crisis in the state. Engineers of the agency hired by the Centre had got stranded in Mumbai and later in Delhi due to lockdown.

Hospital Officials cite technical lapses

• The plant at Civil Hospital was set up on May 4 under PM Cares Fund
• It was shut by authorities after its compressor started heating up
• Officials allege technical lapses during the installation process
• They say the oxygen plant is likely to be functional soon

The plant has the capacity to generate around 200 litres of oxygen per minute with the help of natural air. Dr Piyush Sharma, Principal Medical Officer, said, “The plant gets heated up quite often. It could be dangerous, so we have shut it down. The agency has started working on it. It is hopeful of restarting the plant in a couple of days.”

According to the Deputy Commissioner, Nishant Kumar Yadav, the administration had sufficient supply of oxygen as of now. “I have asked the officials concerned in the Principal Medical Office to get the plant functional at the earliest,” he said. Prof Joginder Singh claimed there was no technical lapse during installation. “The plant has heating issues due to space crunch. I had told the authorities to install heavy duty exhaust fans at the facility, but to no avail,” he said.