Five Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) filling stations each will be set up in the cities of Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, and Kozhikode within the next one year to bring out a fuel change from diesel to the less polluting CNG.
A decision to this effect was reached in the talks State Transport Commissioner Tomin J. Thachankary had with representatives of the oil majors IOCL, HP, BPCL, and Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) here on Monday.
The meeting was in the wake of a directive of the circuit bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the State government’s policy to bring down the pollution caused by vehicles.
CNG has already started flowing from the Puthuvypeen terminal to the outlet of IOC at Pathadipalam. The IOC is making available CNG at the five filling stations through pipes. As the pipes have not been laid to other cities, CNG will be transported in cryogenic tankers to the filling stations to be set up in the existing petrol pumps in government and private sector.
The CNG at present costs Rs.39 a kg compared to the Rs.59 a litre for High Speed Diesel (HSD) and Rs.69 for a litre of petrol.
