NEW DELHI: Delhi Lieutenant Governor (L-G) VK Saxena on Thursday launched a domestic piped natural gas (PNG) facility in Qutabgarh village, the first-ever such installation in rural Delhi, Raj Niwas officials said.
The move would provide unprecedented impetus to the development of hitherto neglected villages in Delhi, they added. This also marks the first venture of the Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) in Delhi’s rural areas, which was until now confined to select urban residential colonies. This paves the way for extension of PNG pipelines and services to other urbanised villages in Delhi as well, the officials said.
Speaking on the occasion, Saxena announced that four more villages in the national capital -- Jaunti, Nizampur, Rawta and Daurala --” will be provided with PNG connection within one month as a New Year’s gift. The LG added that all 29 villages will be fully equipped with PNG connections in the next three months.
The IGL has already completed the survey for laying PNG pipeline in 10 other villages, while preliminary works including requisite permission from civic agencies concerned in remaining 14 villages is also underway, a Raj Niwas official said.
Out of the around 1,000 households in northwest Delhi’s Qutabgarh village, nearly 350 have already got the PNG connection, while applications from the remaining families were received by the IGL through special camps organised in the village on Thursday, the official said.
The nearly 25-km pipeline from the nearest IGL depot to Qutabgarh was set up in a record time of less than six months, the official added. Saxena said the PNG connection in Qutabgarh is a small but valuable contribution to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of providing every household with clean and green energy for cooking.
He emphasised that this initiative would also prevent the villagers from the hassle of getting LPG cylinders refilled or replaced, therefore leading to huge savings in terms of money and energy.