As many as 65,000 houses in the city are set to get piped natural gas (PNG) by the end of the ongoing financial year, Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, said, while inaugurating the Bengaluru City Gas Distribution (CGD) project here on Sunday.
GAIL Gas Ltd., which is implementing the project, said the infrastructure for domestic PNG connections was ready for nearly 34,500 houses. Of these, 23,300 are ready for conversion, which means they will be able to do away with the hassles associated with the conventional LPG cylinders. As many as 3,000 houses – mostly in Singasandra, Mangammanapalya and HSR Layout – are already said to be using PNG in Bengaluru.
The Bengaluru CGD project, being implemented at a cost of ₹6,283 crore in both Bengaluru Urban and Rural, is expected to provide uninterrupted supply of natural gas to 1.32 lakh households in five years. GAIL officials said that apart from domestic use, natural gas was also being used by nine industries and 22 commercial units.
CNG stations
In addition to PNG connections, officials said a CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) station had been commissioned in Laggere, while three more stations were ready for commissioning at BMTC bus depots at Sumanahalli, Hennur and Peenya. There will be a total of 60 such stations in five years.
Sunday also saw the launch of a mobile application (GAIL GAS mobile app) touted to be a one-stop platform for consumers to view and pay their PNG bills, locate CNG stations and get emergency instructions, among others.
Expansion
PNG projects will not be limited to Bengaluru. Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Chemicals and Fertilisers U. Ananth Kumar said that in addition to the Dhabol-Bengaluru line, the Kochi-Mangaluru pipeline will also be ready by the end of 2018.
“After that, Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd., which runs on crude oil, will be able to run on clean gas,” he added.
Mr. Pradhan said a Chennai-Bengaluru line is also proposed to be established.
No government representatives
Representatives of the Karnataka government were conspicuous by their absence at the event, fuelling murmurs of it looking like a “BJP event.” Though the invitation for the event mentioned U.T. Khader, H.K. Patil and M. Krishnappa as invitees, none of them turned up. Chief Secretary to the Government of Karnataka Subhash Chandra Khuntia was the lone representative of the government.
