New Delhi: On the occasion of the inauguration of Maharashtra Natural Gas Limited's (MNGL) 100th CNG station on Tuesday, Petroleum Secretary Tarun Kapoor pulled up the PSU and its management and asked them to make their target for 2021 'much, much larger.' While the Secretary congratulated MNGL on the occasion, he also made sure to hold the company accountable to better standards when he said, "You have set up 100 CNG stations. And you have said that you will set up 50 more by December next year. But I think you could do much more. We expect much much larger numbers from you, even on the household PNG connection front."
The statement came after MNGL's Managing Director S Halder's address in which he said that the company is all geared up to set up another 50 stations by December 2021.
Inaugurating MNGL's five CNG stations through video conference, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan urged MNGL to set up a compressed bio-gas (CBG) plant in Maharashtra's Nashik. "I urge the district authorities of Nashik to consult with MNGL, which has the licence for city gas distribution in Nashik, and set up a large CBG plant. I think that this is totally doable because of the easy availability of agricultural waste in the area," he said.
Kapoor, on his part, added that the ministry expects bigger companies in city gas distribution (CGD) sector to ensure that in the next one month, at least two or three CBG plants are linked to the network and gas is injected. He urged CGD entities to take up the initiative as a pilot.
On the occasion, Pradhan also virtually inaugurated the commencement of civil work at LNG/CNG station at Pathardi, Nashik, in Maharashtra, CNG supply to buses in Nashik, and CNG distribution through award of Mobile refuelling Unit (MRU) at Pune.
Speaking on the occasion, Pradhan said that India is committed to achieving 15 percent share of natural gas in the primary energy mix by 2030 for a more sustainable energy use. This will help reduce environmental pollution and fulfil commitment to COP-21 climate change commitments, he said. Pradhan added that greater use of natural gas will reduce dependence on fossil fuel and consequently reduce import bill and import dependence. "Our energy transition roadmap will drive self-reliance and create large-scale employment," he added.
The minister said that with the inauguration of the five CNG stations, MNGL has a network of 100 CNG stations. "With 5 stations added today we will almost reach the figure of 2,500 stations. But we have to keep pushing ourselves to reach the figure of 10,000 CNG stations in the coming 7-8 years. And I urge companies in the sector to prepone the setting up of these stations as we are running out of time with global warming on the rise," he added. He said, "I have been informed that while Maharashtra SRTC has place order for retrofitting of buses to CNG, Kerala SRTC is also finalising trial conversion for buses. MNGL has taken pioneering initiative of placing Mobile Refueling Unit (MRU) for the first time in the country."
Pradhan said that the CGD sector has emerged as a major industry for natural gas consumption. The demand is only going to increase as more GAs become operational and consumption increases in domestic, transport, commercial and industrial sector of CGD networks.
Pradhan said that the foundation stone for India's first 50 LNG fuel stations spread across the Golden Quadrilateral and all major national highways with co-existing LNG-based CNG stations was laid recently. "The government of India plans to invest Rs 10,000 crore in the next three years in setting up 1,000 LNG stations in India," he said.
The minister said that the push on CNG/LNG infrastructure will bring investment in OEM sector, CGD equipment manufacture, transport sector and will lead to the creation of employment and will be a big step towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
(PSU Watch– India's Business News centre that places the spotlight on PSUs, Bureaucracy, Defence and Public Policy is now on Telegram. Join PSU Watch Channel in your Telegram and stay updated)