GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 21th Jan. Dr. Anil Kumar Jain, Chairperson of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), met with Shri Banwarilal Purohit, Administrator of the UT of Chandigarh and Governor of Punjab, on January 19, 2024 in Chandigarh. The Chairperson updated the Governor on the progress of oil and gas infrastructure, particularly in the UT of Chandigarh, as well as PNGRB’s efforts to achieve the Prime Minister’s aim of increasing natural gas’s portion of India’s energy basket to 15%. He also informed the Governor on the progress made in the development of natural gas in Punjab. The inherent environmental benefits and simplicity of using piped natural gas for cooking and compressed natural gas for transportation were stressed.
Important topics such as replacing polluting solid and liquid fuels with natural gas in industrial and commercial units, rationalizing land restoration expenses, VAT on CNG, and so on were discussed during the meeting. Dr. Anil Jain stated that with the cooperation of the UT Administration, the CGD licensee will be ready to supply “HarGhar PNG” by March 2025. It will be appropriate for the city’s status as a clean and green city. The Governor acknowledged it and promised to provide all feasible assistance for the development of natural gas infrastructure in Chandigarh.
On the fringes of the meeting, the Chairperson of the PNGRB met with Shri Nitin Kumar Yadav, IAS, Home Secretary and Adviser to the Administrator, and Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh. During the discussion, topics concerning the promotion of natural gas and its increased use in domestic, transportation, industrial, and commercial units were addressed. The Home Secretary further pledged the UT Administration of its full cooperation in achieving this shared goal. The discussions above are likely to significantly increase the use of this clean fuel in Chandigarh’s energy mix.
PNGRB has designated 300 Geographical Areas across the country, representing 98% of the population and 88% of the land, for the establishment of the CGD Network. PNGRB has established a target of providing 12.5 crore household PNG connections, 17,751 CNG stations, and 5,42,224 inch-km of pipeline by 2032. As of November 30th, 2023, 1.2 crore domestic PNG connections and 6,159 CNG stations had been constructed across the country.
