Nagaland Power dept. says BMA oxygen plant damaged due to overuse

Our Reporter
Dimapur, May 26 (EMN): The Power department, government of Nagaland, on Wednesday clarified that the motor at M/S BMA Liquid Air Plant in Dimapur was damaged on May 23 due to “non-stop operation” and not because of erratic power supply as reported by some sections of the media.

The executive engineer of Dimapur Electrical Division, Imsenkaba, stated in “power outage report”, which was submitted to the chief engineer (D&R), that “the proprietor (of BMA Liquid Air Plant) admitted that the motor got damaged due to continuous use to meet ever increasing demand for oxygen”.

The report, a copy of which is available with this newspaper, stated it was found out during a site inspection on May 22 that the oxygen plant ‘has an installed capacity of 11/0.4 kV, 250 kVA DT and the capacity of compressor motor is a single 150Kw induction moot without back-up or standby unit’.

It claimed the ‘plant had no technician to handle and operate the power system and the existing power system is very primitive with no critical components like voltage regulator, capacitor bank and productive system (apart from kit-kat and DO fuse) etc., and the backup DG was non-functional’.

The report stated that during a departmental inspection of 33/11 kV, 10 MVA Referral Sub-Station, on May 22, the proprietor was advised “to take breaks in running the motor” to avoid burn out after finding out that the plant was operating “almost continuously”.

The report went on to state that ‘the Power department had been supplying power 22-23 hours per day to the plant, but if and when necessary, the proprietor was told to be ready to operate his DG set for at least 2-3 hours in a day instead of depending 100% on the grid supply, which at times get interrupted due to rains, storms and other line faults’. He was also asked to inform and coordinate with EE(E) Dimapur and Chümoukedima, it added.

The executive engineer also stated that it was found out during a visit to the plant along with senior officers from head office in Kohima on May 22 that the complaint it received was caused “by the inability to operate their in-house electrical system, such as the tap-changer of their distribution transformer etc.”

Won’t play blame game, says proprietor

However, the proprietor of M/B BMA Liquid Air Plant told Eastern Mirror that the oxygen plant would start functioning normally by Thursday evening as a new motor had been installed and the old motor would soon be repaired too.

When asked about the cause of motor damage, the proprietor said that “there was power fluctuation” and the motor was burnt as they do not have a suitable transformer. “I don’t blame anyone and we should not play blame game,” he added.

He stated that they would take precaution though oxygen plants run 24/7 in other parts of the country.

Now that a stabiliser of 250 kV has been installed at the facility, he expressed hope that ‘there won’t be any problem now and the question of motor being damaged will not arise soon’.