The Hindu 25.11.2009
Piped supply of cooking gas from next year
Staff Reporter
| BGL is conducting a survey for the purpose, says Collector |
Kakinada Municipal Commissioner asked to coordinate the study tour
Necessary safety measures will be put in place
Kakinada: Four towns in East Godavari district - Kakinada, Samalkot, Peddapuram and Pithapuram, will get cooking gas through pipelines from Bhagyanagar Gas Limited (BGL), a joint venture of HPCL and Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), from the year 2010. The Government has three months ago appointed BGL as the agency for distributing gas at prices cheaper than LPG cylinder charges. In addition to piped gas, BGL will be catering to the requirements of industrial and automobile sectors in a phased manner for which necessary infrastructure is about to be created, said Collector Gopalakrishna Dwivedi.
Speaking at the public hearing on the Kakinada City Gas Distribution (KCGD) project at the Zilla Parishad conference hall on Tuesday, Mr. Dwivedi said BGL is conducting a survey for the purpose and it was likely to supply gas starting next year. BGL has been apprised of its obligation to comply with the relevant procedures contained in municipal laws, pollution control and fire safety norms.
The company was also asked to give a demonstration to acquaint the people with piped gas and to furnish them details like the amount of security deposit to be paid for domestic or commercial connections.
Recommendations
Mr. Dwivedi said it was decided to send a team comprising four officials and an equal number of people’s representatives would tour to Delhi or Mumbai or some cities in Gujarat where piped gas distribution first began in the country.
They would make recommendations on how to execute the project in these parts of Andhra Pradesh. Kakinada Municipal Commissioner G.S.N. Murthy has been ordered to coordinate the study tour.
Kakinada City MLA Dwarampudi Chandrasekhara Reddy sought to know the share of profits BGL would give to the civic bodies and the mechanism of compensating for the loss to be caused by digging of roads for laying pipelines. The company has to make out a contingency plan.
KCGD project manager RBS Tomar said pipelines measuring a total of 75 km would be laid in Kakinada and the other three towns. The project was planned to benefit a population of about six lakh in 220 square kilometers.
Necessary safety measures were to be put in place. Joint Collector K. Sasidhar, Zilla Parishad chairman Ch. Venugopala Krishna, Kakinada Mayor K. Saroja and others participated.
