BENGALURU: State-owned natural gas processing and distribution company GAIL Gas Ltd and taxi aggregator firm Uber entered into a partnership to promote the usage of CNG as fuel in Bengaluru here on Wednesday.
A memorandum of understanding was signed between the two firms during the inauguration of a GAIL Gas CNG Station at Hardware Technology Park near Bengaluru airport. As part of the partnership, termed as “Hasiru Bengaluru” (Green Bengaluru), GAIL Gas will provide free CNG to the first 500 cars joining under the programme, capped at a maximum of `10,000 per car. GAIL has targeted to open 20 CNG stations in the city by the end of the year.
B C Tripathi, chairman and managing director, GAIL (India) Ltd, said only CNG could replace the existing fuels which were causing pollution, and the technology to use it had been proven. “Drivers of petrol and diesel cars can make savings of 60% and 50% respectively,” he said.
Madhu Kannan, Chief Business Officer, India and Emerging Markets, Uber, said the firm would hold talks with original equipment manufacturers, auto dealers and retrofitters to create awareness on the use of CNG. On why Bengaluru was chosen for the project, he said, “We began here and we have millions of riders who have very enthusiastically adopted the Uber pool feature.”
Pocket brochures for drivers were also launched at the event, which highlight advantages of CNG over other fuels. Tripathi spoke of the large investments the firm had made for laying networks for CNG in Bengaluru and elsewhere.
The GAIL Gas CNG station inaugurated on Wednesday has a capacity to fuel approximately 1000 vehicles a day.To improve accessibility to CNG, GAIL Gas has six CNG stations operational at Laggere, Jigani, Peenya Industrial Area, Sungadkatte, and Bommasandra Industrial Area in the city. More CNG stations are coming up at Agara, KR Puram, Goravigere, New Airport Road, Tata Nagar, and Sarjapur Road.