Goa: Domestic piped gas struggles to take off, just 2,100 avail of facility

PANAJI: The Centre’s thrust on piped natural gas (PNG) for households appears to have no takers with many Goans housing societies and homes giving the facility a miss. Though the Goa Natural Gas Pvt Ltd (GNGPL) has received 10,070 registrations for the service, just 2,142 people actually use the piped gas. The GNGPL had offered free piped gas for three months to all households last year, but even that failed to convince reluctant customers. The GNGPL found that despite installing piped gas meters at home, customers continue to use LPG cylinders for cooking. “People need to come forward to take this connection. If you see the societies where connections have been installed, only half are using it and 50% are not using it. That is why I want to make a push,” said GNGPL chief executive officer Mohammed Zafar Khan. The GNGPL is a joint venture between BPCL (Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd) and GAIL (Gas Authority of India Ltd) and is authorised to supply piped gas to North Goa and Ponda. Khan said that they have a short-term target of 10,000 active customers and also intend to add 1,000 new customers every year. “We have to cater to the Panaji area and Ponda and then going forward we will look at Porvorim and Mapusa. This will be a long term process. We cannot lay infrastructure in a short span of time. This is our fifth year of operation,” said Khan. The GNGPL found that many homes that have taken piped gas connections are either vacant or the home owners continue to use their existing LPG connection. Concerns about safety have also deterred some from using the piped gas connections. He said that the GNGPL officials are calling their existing customers on a daily basis to address the concerns and also convince customers to switch to piped natural gas. “The people might be having some concerns or they are not here or they are still using their LPG connections but my simple request is there should be some kind of communication to immediately switch from LPG to PNG. PNG is safer because its density is lighter than air so even if there is any leakage, it rises up and dissipates,” said the GNGPL CEO. “People are coming forward but it has to be at a faster pace, at a greater speed,” he said.

https://goa.news/goa-domestic-piped-gas-struggles-to-take-off-just-2100-avail-of-facility

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