Indian government announces the opening of over 50 CNG stations
Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Shri Dharmendra Pradhan dedicated 56 new CNG stations. These facilities are located in 13 different states and one UT (Chandigarh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh).
The minister said that in the last six years, the number of CNG stations has gone up from 947 to over 2,300. He informed that presently more than 400 districts of the country are being covered by the City Gas distribution network. In addition, Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) is preparing to come out with 11th round of CGD bidding round, after which 50-100 additional districts will get the clean fuel.
Shri Pradhan highlighted that India is moving towards becoming a gas-based economy and that the government is committed to provide infrastructure to facilitate this: a 17,000 km long pipeline is being laid for the purpose. He commented that the places like North-eastern states and the eastern India, which were deprived of the access to gas, are also being covered. Efforts are underway to complete the national Gas Grid in a time bound manner.
The official expressed his gratitude to the finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for facilitating growth of bio-CNG ecosystem in the country. He said that biomethane has been included in the priority sector by the RBI, which will help the entrepreneurs to get cheaper and easier access to loans.
Talking about the waste to energy concept, the minister stated that India, despite being very low in per capita pollution, has taken steps to adopt the renewable sources of energy in a big way.
Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Tarun Kapoor, also speaking on the occasion, said that the government is fully committed to the ushering of gas economy in the country. He called upon the vehicle manufacturers to promote the factory-fitted CNG vehicles, and reduce fitting the external kits for the same, so that transport sector can use more CNG.
