PNG remains a pipedream for most Bathinda consumers as project moves at a snail’s pace
BATHINDA: Almost five years after Gujarat State Petronet Limited (GSPL), a public-sector undertaking, was permitted to lay piped natural gas (PNG) pipelines in Bathinda, the ambitious city gas distribution (CGD) project of the central government is moving at a snail’s pace.
GSPL has set a target to provide cheaper gas services to 50,000 subscribers in the city but to date, it managed to reach about 1,200 households.
Bathinda is the first city in the south Malwa region of Punjab that is being equipped with PNG supply.
Officials of the Gujarat-based service providers declined to comment, but sources attribute the delay to securing approvals from various departments and the local municipal corporation.
Lockdown imposed due to pandemic led to unavailability of workers that further caused a delay of more three months April onwards last year, said an official. According to the plan submitted to the district authorities, GSPL would lay 500kmlong underground pipeline in the city, but it has managed to complete the work only in 70kms in the last more than a year. PNG is about 20% cheaper than per cylinder of LPG and considered safer than the conventional cooking gas.
In May 2016, Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) had authorised GSPL to start work of providing cheaper piped cooking gas supply in Bathinda. A year later in September, the PSU had sought permission from the Bathinda MC for laying pipeline.
“In 2019, GSPL started with laying underground network in four residential localities of the city — Sucha Singh Nagar, Hazura Kapura Colony, Kartar Colony and Homeland Colony — as a part of the first phase where it laid a 35km-long pipeline. Later, more residential pockets were covered. But most part of the city is still lying untouched and it may take more than at least a year to connect the entire city,” says a GSPL source.