Union Minister Pradhan inaugurates projects taken up by KIOCL in Karnataka

PTI, Jun 22, 2021, 4:49 PM IST

Bengaluru: Union Minister for Steel and Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday inaugurated several important projects taken up by the public sector unit KIOCL in Karnataka.

These included an oxygen generator plant, 50 beds at government hospitals, a 5 MW solar power plant, and a barrel type Blender Reclaimer.

Speaking on the occasion, Pradhan said that the nation saw unprecedented challenges during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and put enormous stress on the healthcare system.

The requirement of medical oxygen shot up in the country and the steel and petroleum companies, both from the public and private sectors, rose to the occasion and supplied liquid medical oxygen.

He said the oxygen requirement in the country went up to over 10,000 MT/day during the last month but steel companies even undertook production cut in steel to meet the country’s demand.

Pradhan congratulated the Karnataka government for managing the pandemic efficiently adding that the State even provided oxygen to its neighbouring States during the initial days.