Kashipur (Uttarakhand), December 22, 2016: In order to popularise use of environment- friendly fuels, Hon’ble Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas (Independent Charge) Shri Dharmendra Pradhan today launched an awareness campaign here to highlight the benefits of Natural Gas and the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana under which LPG is provided to underprivileged households. Hon’ble Minister of State for Textiles Shri Ajay Tamta, Hon’ble MP and former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Hon’ble MLA Shri Harbhajan Singh Cheema, Hon’ble Mayor of Kashipur Smt. Usha Chowdhury, BJP District President Shri Ram Mehrotra, Shri B.C Tripathi, CMD, GAIL (India) Ltd., along with other dignitaries were present on this occasion.
This is the first time that an awareness campaign of this nature is being carried out in Udham Singh Nagar district which is connected to the country’s natural gas grid through GAIL (India) Limited’s pipeline network.
Natural gas is one of the most environment friendly fuels available today. Its usage helps in curtailing the toxic emissions from the industrial and transport sector. Moreover, supply of natural gas through pipelines is uninterrupted, safe and reliable.
GAIL supplies natural gas to Uttarakhand through its 89 km of pipeline network covering Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts. These are the Saharanpur – Haridwar and Karanpur – Kashipur -Rudrapur pipelines which serve the energy needs of customers in Roorkee, Haridwar, Kashipur and Rudrapur regions.
Moreover, another 100 Km of pipeline network, i.e., Haridwar – Rishikesh/Dehradun and Rudrapur – Pantnagar – Haldwani are being planned at an investment of about Rs. 200 Crore. These pipelines will connect two new districts of the state, viz. Dehradun & Nainital, with the Natural Gas grid of India.
City Gas Distribution (CGD) networks are already being developed in Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar districts to supply environment-friendly piped natural gas (PNG) to households and compressed natural gas (CNG) to vehicles.
With thousands of domestic customers in the state expected to convert to PNG in the coming months, the LPG connections freed up as a result will be provided to beneficiaries from below poverty line (BPL) families through the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. Already, 13,900 households in Uttarakhand have been provided LPG connections under the scheme.
The CGD network in Udham Singh Nagar district is being implemented by IndianOil-Adani Gas Pvt Ltd (IOAGPL) which will lay more than 300 kms of pipeline network to supply PNG to more than 40,000 houses in the district in 10 years. The network shall cover all important demand centres at Rudrapur, Kashipur, Jaspur, Bajpur, Khatima, Sitarganj and Gadarpur and in five years.
IOAGPL shall also set up 10 CNG stations to provide CNG to vehicles. The company shall invest Rs 200 crores in five years and the project is expected to generate direct and indirect employment for 1,50,000 people. The first phase of the Udham Singh Nagar CGD network is likely to be commissioned by March 2017.
Further, a joint venture of GAIL’s subsidiary GAIL Gas and Bharat Petroleum is executing the city gas distribution project in Haridwar District. This project will benefit about 17,000 households which will get PNG connections while around 10,000 vehicles can convert to CNG. The projected Capital Expenditure for the first five years in the project is Rs 148.91 Crore.
The gas pipeline network shall also supply gas to the industrial and commercial units. Industrial units shall be able to use natural gas for various applications such as process agent, heating, power generation, cooling, etc. Its usage improves the efficiency and helps to cut down the carbon emissions.