New Delhi: Expanding the reach of environment friendly Compressed Natural Gas, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Housing and Urban Affairs Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, through an online ceremony, today inaugurated the 201st CNG station and 4th LCNG stations at Hebbal, Mysuru, Karnataka. These CNG/LCNG station have been set up by AG & P, Pratham. The stations were inaugurated here in the presence of Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Pankaj Jain and other senior officials of the Ministry and Oil and Gas companies.
Shri Hardeep Singh Puri congratulated AG&P, Pratham for the expansion of CNG stations and LCNG stations footprint in the Country. He stated that India is committed to continuously improve the policy and regulatory environment to support the development and make cleaner and sustainable fuel accessible and available to public at large. He said that in last 8 years, CNG stations in the country have gone up from 938 in 2014 to 4629, and number is likely to go up to 8000. The PNG connections have increased by 4 times to almost 1 crore while CGD network has increased 9 times to cover 630 districts.
The Minister stated that the Modi Government has shown political resolve, clarity on policy issues, and ability to implement the decisions which have helped in achieving these targets. He said that the government means business, and the use of gas in the energy basket of the country will go upto 15%, and CGD network will cater to almost 90% of the consumers.
Shri Puri said that under the current global situation, production and availability of Gas and Crude is a challenge but India has been ensuring the energy security, along with energy affordability and availability. The increase in domestic gas prices is fraction of the price rise at Henry Hub, and other places, he added. This has been possible due to Government taking variety of measures to cushion the impact on domestic consumers.
Shri Puri emphasized on the need to expand PNG coverage to maximum number of households and requested all CGD entities to make all efforts to complete PNG connections as per Minimum Work Programme in stipulated time frame. He stated that once the commitments made till 11th round of CGD bidding is complete, India will have 6 crore PNG connections and about 9500 CNG stations in next 8 years. This will usher in universality, giving access to everyone to clean fuel, and providing convenience at affordable rates.
Today’s inauguration ceremony is an important step in expanding availability of Natural Gas as environment friendly and convenient fuel to the transport sector in the Country. Natural Gas in also safer and economical as compared to most conventional fuels.
Hon’ble Prime Minister has set an ambitious target of expanding the share of Natural Gas in the primary energy mix to 15% to usher in a gas-based economy. The development of a gas-based economy is expected to play a key role in achieving India’s target of net zero by 2070.