Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri today rolled out 166 new Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations across 14 states in the country to give a big push to the use of environment-friendly fuel for running vehicles.
These CNG stations have been set up by public sector gas giant GAIL (India) Limited and nine of its group City Gas Distribution companies.
Mr Puri emphasised that the use of CNG on such a scale is expected to incentivise the market for CNG vehicles and will have exponential impact in terms of manufacturing, skill development and employment generation. The new CNG stations will provide direct employment to about 1000 persons.
He stated that these CNG stations commissioned at the cost of Rs 400 crore will further strengthen the gas-based infrastructure and availability of cleaner fuel in the country.
Apart from being an environment-friendly fuel, natural gas is also safer and more economical as compared to most conventional fuels.
He further stated that as compared to 2014 when there were about 900 CNG stations, currently the number of CNG stations have crossed 4500, and will be ramped up to 8000 in the next two years.
The number of PNG (piped natural gas) connections for household kitchens have also now crossed 95 lakhs as compared to about 24 lakhs in the year 2014.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set an ambitious target of expanding the share of natural gas in the country’s 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 emissions by 2070.
Mr Puri also visited the exhibition on Promotion of CNG and LNG based Clean Mobility Technology Vehicles organized by SIAM. During the interaction, he emphasized on the need to reduce vehicular emission through adoption of cleaner fuel and technology in the automotive sector. He stressed on the need for enhanced coverage of CNG and LNG vehicles and requested the automotive companies to ensure availability of CNG/LNG vehicles on a pan India basis.
