In a move that is expected to push up public transport fares, the Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) has increased the selling price of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in Delhi by 2.90 per kg and in neighbouring Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad by Rs 3.30 from Saturday.
A joint venture of GAIL (India) Ltd., BPCL and Government of Delhi, the company said on Friday that the revision in price has been effected since the input cost has risen substantially since the last price revision in March 2012 due to appreciation of dollar vis-à-vis the rupee and due to the increased dependence on imported Spot R-LNG.
IGL added there has been an increase in cost due to a massive hike of over 23 per cent in electricity tariff and also in minimum wages announced by the Government.
The new price of CNG in Delhi would now be Rs. 38.35 per kg while in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad it would be Rs 43.10 per kg.
While the entire public transport in Delhi now runs on CNG and thus the hike is likely to lead to demand for increase in fares of buses, autorickshaws and taxis, IGL said the impact of the hike would be “minor” on the per km running cost of vehicles in Delhi.
For autos, the increase would be 8 paisa per km, for taxis it would be 14 paisa per km and in case of buses, the increase would be 83 paisa per km, which translates to less than two paisa per passenger – km, it reasoned.