Minister Hardeep S Puri inaugurates 201 CNG stations and India’s first Small Scale LNG Unit of GAIL
Inauguration of these CNG stations is a testament to our collective efforts
towards reducing carbon footprint: Hardeep S Puri
“Today marks another milestone on the road to
becoming a gas-based economy and a step forward towards our pursuit for energy
security combined with growth in a sustainable manner”, said Hardeep Singh
Puri, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing & Urban Affairs.
Speaking at the event, he reiterated Government’s vision to increase the share
of natural gas in the primary energy basket to 15% by 2030. “Development of
National Gas Grid (NGG) and a wide spread CGD network for connecting the
consumption centres with the supply points is vital for creation of a gas-based
economy”, he said.
The Minister Hardeep Singh Puri dedicated to the nation
201 CNG Stations and India’s first Small Scale LNG Unit of GAIL. The dedication
of the stations was done through video conferencing today at a function here in
the presence of Union Minister of State, Petroleum and Natural Gas & Labour
and Employment Rameshwar Teli, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural
Gas (MoPNG) Pankaj Jain, Chairman and Managing Director, GAIL (India) Limited, Sandeep
Kumar Gupta, Additional Secretary, MoPNG Praveen Mal Khanooja, GAIL Director
(Finance) RK Jain, Director (Projects) Deepak Gupta, Director (Marketing) Sanjay
Kumar, Director (Business Development) RK Singhal and senior officials of oil
and gas sector companies including CGD entities.
The 201 CNG stations dedicated to the Nation today have
been set up by 15 City Gas Distribution (CGD) entities of GAIL group in 52
Geographical Areas (Gas) across 17 states while India’s first small-scale LNG
unit has been set up by GAIL at its Vijaipur LPG plant.
Out of these 15 CGD entities, 53 stations belong to GAIL
Gas Limited, 50 to Indraprastha Gas Limited, 43 to GAIL and 20 to Mahanagar Gas
Limited. Moreover, four belong to Avantika Gas Limited, two to Bengal Gas
Company Limited, three to Central UP Gas Limited, one to Goa Natural Gas Pvt.
Limited, three to Green Gas Limited, one to Haridwar Natural Gas Limited, two
to Purba Bharati Gas Limited, one to Rajasthan State Gas Pvt. Limited, one to
Tripura Natural Gas Company Limited and one to Vadodara Gas Limited.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said 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. Addition of GAIL group’s 201 CNG stations spread
across 52 Geographical Areas is a step closer toward achieving this vision and
it also portrays the company’s commitment towards sustainability and
environmental responsibility. The inauguration of these CNG stations is a
testament to our collective efforts to reduce carbon footprint and mitigate the
adverse effects of climate change.
Commending GAIL for its innovation in setting up India’s
first Small Scale LNG unit at Vijaipur (Madhya Pradesh) with project cost of
150 crores, Puri said that this Small Scale Liquified Natural Gas technology,
has the potential to play a crucial role in connecting the isolated gas sources
with market and consumers; thereby, helping in monetization of these resources.
As per Minimum work plan submitted by CGD entities,
the Minister noted that the country will have around 17,500 CNG stations and
around 120 million PNG(Domestic) connections by 2030. It will help in
development of ancillary industries in various segments (CGD meters, Compressors,
Dispensers etc) for fulling the dream of Atmanirbhar Bharat, he said.
With inauguration of the CNG stations and the Small-Scale
LNG unit, the Minister reaffirmed government’s commitment to sustainable energy
practices.