Much Ado Abt Nothing: Vedanta’s offer of 1050 tpd of medical oxygen is latest in long list of false declarations used by it solely for obtaining license. But, you can be smarter. Below are some reasons why you should not hold your breath for Vedanta’s oxygen. Some background 1/n

On 16 April, Vedanta approached SC for permission to enter & maintain its Thoothukudi copper smelter complex, promising in return 1050 tpd of oxygen for medical purposes. It sought to restrain GoTN & Tuty ppl from hindering its mission to serve the nation. 2/n

On 23 April, GoTN told SC that reopening the plant will be met with law & order problems and that ppl of Tuty were categorically opposed to it. GoTN never revealed tat ppl of Tuty had no problem with state operating plant subject to certain assurances. 3/n

Vedanta’s supporters, mostly employees, painted Tuty people as heartless, and Vedanta as the saviour. They portrayed their employer/master as the winner of the national competition for patriotic corporate suppliers of oxygen. 4/n https://twitter.com/Tamil_Tweeter/status/1384905103921106952?s=20

From 1995 till 2018, Vedanta has on several instances relied on falsehoods 2 obtain license or keep plant running. Even SC agrees. In its judgement of April 2, 2013, it said “there is no doubt that there has been misrepresentation and suppression of material facts” by Vedanta 5/n

In 2005, 2 get license 4 expansion, Vedanta falsely declared that it had 172 ha for expansion, greenbelt & pollutn control; it only had 102 ha. In its Aug 2020 order, Madras HC referred to this as an act of “deliberate deception” as a “result of which they stood to gain.” 6/n

On 26 April, even as “all-party” meet (without all parties) announced decision to permit Vedanta to operate facility to produce 1050 tonnes/day, TN Adv Gen’l admitted in court that Vedanta can only produce 35 tonnes, not 1050 tonnes/day of liq O2. 7/n https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/vedanta-sterlites-oxygen-capacity-is-for-industrial-use-not-for-medical-use-tamil-nadu-govt-tells-madras-high-court-173138

35 tonnes is two tanker lorries-worth of liquid medical oxygen. And that may be available 2-4 weeks from Day 0, whenever that is. This bottleneck is a result of special hardware config for O2 supply in Sterlite Copper. 8/n

If this info – that only 35 tonnes is capacity, not 1000 -- was presented to Court or in its original application or at all-party meet, odds are that such a huge noise would not have been generated. But when has Vedanta been upfront abt such things? 9/n

After tempting the country with 1050 tpd of O2 to get its license, within an hour of the all-party meet, Vedanta and GoTN disclose that only 35 tpd is possible. Isn’t this insensitive? Isn’t it a fraud on the people of India? 10/n

The O2 plant in Sterlite primarily produces O2 gas for continuous use in furnace. A small fraction of this – 35 tpd, we learn -- is tapped as liquid for storage onsite. This will be used for emergencies, and as backup. In Steel plants, 0.5-0.6% is tapped as Liquid. 11/n

The gas v. Liquid O2 proportion in a captive plant can be changed with substantial modification. That will take time, money & new equipment. 12/n

The Bhilai steel plant is currently under shutdown to enable it to enhance its liquid O2 production by a meagre 15 MT. How long will you wait for Vedanta to ramp up from 35 MT to 1050 MT? 13/n

But if this were an option, why not do it at a running plant including other Vedanta-owned plants in North and Central India? Why is Vedanta intent on spending crores and crores to get into Tuty, while need is in North? 14/n

Vedanta’s Hindustan Zinc is in Udaipur, 11 hours from Delhi where people are gasping for breath. HZL has 188 tpd O2 plant. Converting all this into liquid shld take care of nearby deficit states like Delhi, Rajasthan and MP. Makes sense no? 15/n

Alternatively, a small O2 plant that can supply 24 cyl to a rural health-care centre can be set up in weeks at about Rs 33 lakh. This will not burden our creaking O2 transport stock, and produce O2 at point of use, and be a good long-term investment. Why not this? 16/n

Only liquid O2 is amenable for bulk transport. Gas O2 can be filled in cylinders. But cylinders are far more scarce than medical O2. And cryogenic tankers even more so. There are only 1173 O2 tanker lorries in India, all working 24/7. 17/n

Another 1200 argon and nitrogen tankers are in service, and a small proportion of that can be readied for the emergency. That’s how desperate we are for rolling stock. If Vedanta produced 1000 tpd – unlikely – you’ll need 50 x 20-ton tankers. 18/n

The GoTN, DMK and Congress have either been willingly led up the garden path – collusion – or are monumentally uninformed that they cannot even ask the right questions before nodding their heads in unison. 19/n

May 22 will mark 3rd anniversary of the Thoothukudi police firing where 14 ppl were killed for protesting against Sterlite’s pollution. One hopes that the selective all-party meet’s decision to allow Vedanta to operate plant does not lead to any further confrontations. 20/n

May 22 will mark 3rd anniversary of the Thoothukudi police firing where 14 ppl were killed for protesting against Sterlite’s pollution. One hopes that the selective all-party meet’s decision to allow Vedanta to operate plant does not lead to any further confrontations. 20/20