Chennai, May 12 (IANS): Oxygen production at the reopened Sterlite plant in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi is to commence from Wednesday and the first tanker will be out of the plant either on Wednesday night or Thursday morning, according to officials in charge of production and monitoring of oxygen there.

The initial production of oxygen will be low but will reach the maximum capacity of 1,050 tonnes within 10 to 15 days time. The liquefied oxygen will be transported in tankers while the gaseous oxygen will be filled in cylinders for transport.

Around 300 people are working at the Sterlite plant with oxygen production experts, engineers and other technicians. The company has transferred oxygen experts from its other units to the Thoothukudi unit to increase the pace of production of oxygen.

Talking to IANS, Thoothukudi Contractors Association founder President S. Thiagarajan said: "Around 200 contract workers are engaged in preparatory work along with the staff of the plant. 75 per cent of those who are working in contract are former employees of the company and they are working in shifts of eight hours each."

The Supreme Court had allowed Vedanta to operate its oxygen production units at Sterlite plant as an extraordinary measure to tide over the oxygen crisis during the Covid pandemic.

It had observed that Tamil Nadu government had met stakeholders extensively, both at the executive and political levels, and decided to let Vedanta operate its plant which would be able to produce 200MT of oxygen within 10 days.

The court had also made it clear that Vedanta would not be allowed to operate its copper smelting plant under the garb of this order.

Police firing at the Thoothukudi Collectorate on May 22, 2018 on people protesting against the copper smelting plant at Sterlite had left 13 persons dead and more than a hundred injured. The plant was shut down after this incident and there were reports that the company is trying to open the plant through a backdoor by promising oxygen.