Govt mulls sops for CNG vehicles
2 min readPatna: Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Friday announced that the state government will consider reducing registration fee of CNG-operated vehicles to promote their use.
He also announced that necessary changes would be made in the building bylaws to ensure that all the multi-storied buildings would have inbuilt pipeline for availing the facility of PNG supply in homes.
He shared these points at an event organised by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) to appraise prospective investors for taking part in the ninth round of bidding for setting up city gas distribution.
Pipelines for supplying compressed natural gas used for running vehicles and industries, and piped natural gas, used for domestic cooking, is coming up at six places – Aurangabad, Kaimur, Rohtas, Nalanda, Gaya and Begusarai – in Bihar. A similar facility is already being set up in Patna by Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) in Patna which is set to have CNG stations and PNG facility by end of October this year.
Underlining the benefits of use of CNG-operated vehicles particularly in addressing pollution, Sushil also stressed that the automobile companies needed to explore the technology which could allow easy conversion of existing vehicles to CNG vehicles.
Sharing details about the bidding process for the six new places in Bihar, Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board D.K. Sharraf said: “July 10 is the last date of bidding and the selection of agencies would be finalised by October this year. After that, around 18 months’ time is likely to be taken for laying the pipeline to deliver natural gas at six places in Bihar.”
As far as the laying of the main pipeline is concerned, of 490km, GAIL has already laid 410km of pipeline and work is on to lay remaining 80km in Bihar. This pipeline would get gas from the Jagdishpur-Haldia gas pipeline. The project entails laying 2,655km of pipeline that would touch Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Bengal and Odisha. Gas supply up to Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh has already been started.
On the benefit to Bihar, industries principal secretary S. Siddharth said the alignment of the pipeline being laid in Bihar was such that it was coming parallel to the part of dedicated freight corridor that would pass through Bihar. Also it is along the GT Road, hence there is a strong possibility of development of gas-based industries in the region.
Siddharth also promised that he being the nodal officer for giving all kind of permission for laying pipelines in the state, those willing to take part in the bidding process should come out without any confusion as the state government was willing to extend all possible cooperation to such investors.
Courtesy: The Telegraph
