Bengaluru to get piped gas soon, promises mantri

BENGALURU: The city will soon get piped natural gas (PNG) grid, Union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan said here on Saturday. "Bengaluru will be connected to PNG soon, I promise," he told media on the sidelines of the launch of the 'Give It Up' scheme. The city has been awaiting a PNG grid for two years since the Gas Authority of India Ltd commissioned the Dabhol-Bengaluru gas project and laid about 73 km of gas pipelines along the Outer Ring Road. Pradhan said the contract to carry out the network of the grid within the city is in final stages. He would be back in the city soon to lay the foundation of the first line. He, however, was not sure of the timeline when the work will begin, and when citizens will get PNG in their homes. "Across India, only 15,000 km of gas grid has been built since independence. But my ministry's mandate is to add another 15,000 km of PNG grid by 2019. We will connect over 1 crore people with this gas grid," he said. The 1,000-km-long Dabhol-Bengaluru pipeline connects South India to the gas grid of the country. It passes through Belagavi, Dharwad, Gadag, Ballari, Davanagere, Chitradurga, Tumakuru, Ramanagaram, Bengaluru Rural and Urban districts. The CGD project will enable contracts to branch gas lines to several gas stations and further to each and every household. Constructed at a cost of Rs 4,500 crore, the pipeline can carry 16 million standard cubic meters per day of natural gas, which can be used to produce 3,000 MW of clean energy. STILL A DREAM The Dabhol-Bengaluru gas project, undertaken by GAIL, was commissioned in December 2013, but has not made any headway yet. Minister Pradhan refused to say when Bengalureans would get piped gas in their homes. -TOI