KOCHI: On its sprint to become a gas-based economy, India has connected around two lakh households to piped natural gas and added 100 CNG stations. 10 states however, are still left out of the grid.
“The scenario is such that, the consumption increases in areas where the fuel is already present. The north and west is very well connected, but the east and south aren’t. The standard method was to start an LNG project in an area and lay pipelines.
It has flaws which is evident from the uneven distribution. It is high time that government intervened in the issue,” said M P Sukumaran Nair, energy expert from the Centre for Green Technology and Management. The situation is preventing plans to increase natural gas contribution in the energy mix to 15 per cent from 6.5 per cent. According to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) India has 29.5 lakh domestic natural gas connections and 963 CNG stations. The West leads with 23.6 lakh connections and 525 CNG stations followed by the north. East and south have only 65,000 homes connected and a paltry 40 CNG outlets.
“It is a complex situation that a large number of people in the country are getting benefits of natural gas and a large chunk is left out. Lack of awareness and fear about laying pipelines are the major reasons for this,” said Tony Mathew, Chief Manager, GAIL India Limited.
The total amount of CNG and PNG sold through city gas distribution systems in the first quarter of the current financial year was 15.102 mscmd.