BENGALURU: Thanks to the Wheel Shop in the Rail Wheel Factory (RWF) at Yelahanka being completely closed to carry out upgradation works, an Oxygen Plant which facilitated the manufacture of train wheels by churning out a huge quantum of oxygen daily now plans to supply it government hospitals in City. A tender in this connection will be awarded on April 30.
This follows a request from the Karnataka Drugs Control Department. The RWF is also in the process of getting the requisite permission both from the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) in Nagpur and the Drugs Control Department, said top officials here.
The Plant can fill up a maximum of 104 cylinders during a 24-hr period by filling up six cylinders ( 7 cubic meter capacity) an hour.
General Manager, RWF, Rajiv Kumar Vyas told The New Indian Express, "Our Oxygen Plant presently has an outlet pressure of only 12 BAR (Atmospheric Pressure) but we need to have 150 BAR in order to fill oxygen cylinders. Hence, we have issued tender worth Rs 55.7 lakh to install a compressor. That would increase the pressure to the extent needed and oxygen can be supplied after that.”
The present plan is to use the oxygen for two Railway Hospitals in the City as well as State-run hospitals. “There is a Railway Hospital inside RWF and another near the KSR railway station which also requires much oxygen due to the surge in cases among employees. Both of them presently buy oxygen from private players,” another official said.
The Oxygen Plant set up in 2009 churns out around 20 tonnes of oxygen per day (15,600 cubic meters) by operating at –170 degrees celsius. It is not industrial oxygen and is fully utilized to melt steel to prepare wheels in the Wheel Shop, slated to reopen by June.
The installation procedure would take two weeks after the tender is awarded, the GM said. “We got the request from Drugs Control department as well as a few other agencies for oxygen supply. RWF is also keen on making a valuable contribution in Corona time and so decided to go ahead with it immediately,” the GM said.