Life in kitchen for women in 40-odd households in Ajitsingh Nagar is not the same anymore. They are a happy lot as their cooking gas-related woes have been taken care of by the Piped Natural Gas (PNG) that has finally found its way into their kitchens through pipelines connected to stoves.
“To begin with, we have supplied piped cooking gas to 40 households at P&T Colony, Shadikhana Road, and Luna Centre in Ajitsingh Nagar. The feedback is positive as the new system has changed the experience of using cooking gas in the kitchen for women,” Bhagyanagar Gas Limited’s City Gas Distribution (CGD) Project Deputy Manager G. Rajkumar told The Hindu on Monday.
After many hiccups, the BGL’s PNG Project has begun to take shape. “The supply gets metered just the way it is being done for water and electricity. From the mainline, a separate pipeline enters the kitchen and a gas metre is installed, initial reading is noted down and billing is done based on the consumption. The PNG-users have said that the new mode is 40 per cent cheaper than the LPG,” said Mr. Rajkumar.
The BGL pipelines will now enter Satyanarayanapuram and Gandhinagar areas. Referring to the roadblocks at Eluru and Budameru canals that contributed to a delay, Mr. Rajkumar said the Irrigation Department had given its nod for digging up works.
“To pave the way for release of water for kharif crop, the department wanted us to wait. We are allowed to dig the canals and lay our pipelines from now onwards up to June,” he said.
Door-to-door campaign
Eighty more registrations have been made for PNG supply and the agency intends to enhance the number to 200 households by March.
The BGL’s final target is 1 lakh connections in Vijayawada city at an estimated cost of Rs. 100 crore. The agency’s marketing team is going door-to-door distributing pamphlets highlighting benefits of the new mode of cooking.
Besides the advantage of continuous supply of cooking gas at the turn of tap, it also saves time and money. One need not call up the distributor to book refills and wait for cylinder.
“It’s safe”
From health and safety point of view, PNG is as good as, or better than LPG and other alternative fuels. It is lighter than air and in the event of a leak it will rise and disperse in the atmosphere and not form puddles (as in petrol) or spread (as in LPG).
The ignition temperature of the natural gas is much higher than petrol, making it more difficult to ignite. Natural gas will not burn when its concentration in the air is below 5 per cent or above 15 per cent. Saving of space is yet another advantage of this hassle-free mode.
