BHUBANESWAR: With the Centre pushing forward piped natural gas (PNG) network amidst the West Asia crisis, the Odisha government has rolled out a series of measures to accelerate city gas distribution (CGD) across urban areas of the state to counter the emerging LPG supply constraints.
Acting on directives from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the state government issued an order to facilitate faster rollout of PNG connections by putting in place critical enabling measures which would remain in effect till June 30.
Under the new guidelines, all pending applications for laying CGD pipelines with urban local bodies, Works and Water Resources departments besides other authorities concerned will be deemed approved, subject to compliance with safety and technical norms, said the order issued by additional chief secretary to Housing and Urban Development department Usha Padhee.
All fresh applications must be processed within 24 hours, significantly cutting bureaucratic delays. To ensure uninterrupted execution, CGD entities have been permitted round-the-clock (24Ă—7) pipeline laying operations, with restrictions on working seasons also relaxed.
Departments have been directed to extend full cooperation to gas distribution companies, the order said.
The government clarified that road cutting, restoration and permission charges will continue to be levied as per existing works department rates aligned with central guidelines, pending further directions from the Centre. The CGD entities will also be responsible for restoring public assets at their own cost, failing which legal action may be initiated.
To streamline coordination, the director of municipal administration has been designated as the state nodal officer to oversee implementation across departments and ensure adherence to timelines.
The Works, Water Resources and Energy departments and ULBs have been directed to take immediate steps to operationalise the measures and extend full cooperation to the CGD entities.