Mysore/Mysuru: The woes of booking cooking gas cylinders, waiting for supply and carrying it to top floors will all be things of the past soon. The dream of procuring cooking gas through pipeline at home — Piped Natural Gas (PNG) — will be realised by 2023 as over 40,000 homes will get the supply in the first phase. The plant will be set up at Hebbal with an investment of Rs. 600 crore. 

This was disclosed by Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha, who held a meeting at Jaladarshini Guest House in city this morning with representatives from AG&P Pratham India, the city gas distribution arm of the Singapore-headquartered AG&P Group that has bagged the tender to supply piped gas for Mysuru. 

“The plant will be set up at Hebbal. This company has bagged the contract and approval from Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board that regulates the refining, processing, storage, transportation, distribution, marketing and sale of petroleum, petroleum products and natural gas,” the MP said. 

The Centre has been striving to make India a gas-based economy and the current share of gas in India’s energy mix is 6 percent, the Government has set an ambitious target of increasing it to 15 percent by 2030. 

“Since natural gas is also used in households as PNG, increasing the user base for this cooking fuel is one of the ways to effectively move towards our natural gas targets. Also, the rising use of CNG-powered vehicles can also help drive the goals,” he noted. 

The Centre had sanctioned piped gas projects to Mangaluru and Bengaluru and now it has been sanctioned to Mysuru. By 2023, over 40,000 households will get gas to their homes and it will be expanded to the rest of the city in phases. AG&P Pratham India will supply PNG to Mysuru, Mandya and Chamarajanagar, Pratap Simha added. 

Under the authorisation, the company is allowed an exclusivity period of 25 years for laying, building and expanding infrastructure for supplying natural gas in gaseous, liquid and compressed format. Under the eight-year infrastructure plan at Mysuru, Mandya and Chamarajanagar, gas will be supplied to five lakh households and 171 Compressed Natural Gas Stations will be established, said Arun Nayak, who heads the operations in three districts. 

Natural gas is lighter than air and highly combustible. It has lower environmental impact when compared with other types of fuel. It is a safe fuel as it operates at low pressure and it is not stored in cylinders. It burns completely with no residue. It is economical as the cooking gas would come up to about Rs. 608 per month while the LPG costs Rs. 1,000 a month, Nayak claimed. 

Apart from permission to lay a gas pipeline to supply gas to domestic households and commercial establishments, permission will be sought to lay a pipeline from Bidadi to M ysuru through Ring Road.

D. Devaraj Urs Backward Classes Development Corporation Chairman R. Raghu Kautilya, Chief Operating Officer of AG&P Pratham India Chiradeep Datta, AG&P Project Planning AGM Ashish Bisen and Marketing Head – Karnataka, Nitin Huilgol were present.