Bengaluru: Over 3,000 households, falling under the Bommanahalli Assembly constituency, have done away with the hassle of handling heavy weight LPG cylinders when its empty, booking a refill, looking for alternative arrangements like electric and kerosene stoves till the refill arrives, with the launch of Gas India Limited's piped natural gas (PNG) by Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan here on Sunday.
By the end of next financial year, over 23,300 houses in the city are set to get PNG connections under the Bengaluru City Gas Distribution (CGD) project being implemented at a cost of Rs 6,283 crore in Bengaluru urban and rural areas broadly covering eight sectors - Nelamangala, Doddaballapur, Devanahalli, Hosakote, Anekal and Bengaluru-East, North and South. The CGD project aims to provide economical, environment-friendly, uninterrupted, safe and convenient energy to 106.12 lakh households, industries and commercial units. Along with 3,000 PNG connections, a compressed natural gas (CNG) station was officially inaugurated at Laggere.
Ms Jayamma Reddy, a home-maker at HSR Layout, said, "Chances of explosion is very less with PNG. It is user-friendly and we can turn it on and off at ease like how we do the water taps."
Stating that PNG is 20 percent cheaper as compared to LPG and reduces pollution to a great extent, Mr Pradhan said that the state government should come out with a policy to ban fuel oil (any liquid petroleum product) used in the food processing industries, bakeries and masala industry, so that they shift to 'natural gas'. He also sought a ban on diesel generators and replace them with ones that run on natural gas.
Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar said that BMTC should turn green by shifting the fleet to 'natural gas'.
GAIL GAS mobile app was also launched during the occasion, facilitating consumers to view and pay their PNG bills and easily locate a CNG stations nearby.
Replying to questions on daily revision of prices of petrol and diesel, Mr Pradhan said it is rolling smoothly, and maintained that there is no opposition to the new policy, except for the suggestion on announcing daily rates at 6 am.
PNG won't be restricted to B'luru
Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar said that the PNG project will not be limited to Bengaluru alone, but spread to other areas too. "Along with the Dhabol-Bengaluru line, the Kochi-Mangaluru pipeline will be ready by 2018-end. Chennai-Bengaluru pipeline is also proposed to be set up," he said and added that with this, Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers Ltd can shift to natural gas from crude oil, reducing pollution.
Rosneft invests $13b
Mr Dharmendra Pradhan said that Rosneft, the Russian oil major, is planning an in-tap retail fuel market in India in a big way. Rosneft has invested $13 billion in Indian market in the last fiscal, which was one of the biggest deals in the world oil industry, he said.
