Piped natural gas not available in Bahadurgarh

Ravinder Saini

Jhajjar, October 3

Due to inordinate delay in getting the piped natural gas (PNG) connections, industrialists in Bahadurgarh town, located on the Haryana-Delhi border, are feeling helpless in following the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) directive to switch over to green fuel.

The Haryana City Gas, a firm authorised to supply the PNG, has provided connections to only 25 industrial units in Bahadurgarh over the past six months. Over 110 applications for the PNG connections are pending as the work of laying the pipeline is underway.

“Over 3,000 units need PNG connections in accordance with the CAQM guidelines, but the firm has not yet laid the pipeline in a major portion of industrial areas in Bahadurgarh. Many industrialists applied for the connection and deposited the security amount several months ago, but they have not yet got connections. How we can shift to green fuel in a situation when the PNG is not available,” said Narender Chhikara, senior vice-president of the Bahadurgarh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI).

Chhikara said, “A big security amount is to be deposited with the application for a PNG connection. Most industrialists don’t want to block their hard-earned money, so they were waiting for the availability of the PNG facility. Many industrial units need to deposit around Rs 25 lakh as security amount.”

Subhash Jagga, general secretary of the Footwear Park Association, Bahadurgarh, said the government should allow industrialists to continue their operation using generators till the availability of the PNG in Bahadurgarh.

Pankaj Chauhan, marketing manager of Haryana City Gas, told The Tribune that the PNG pipelines had been laid in Rohad, HSIIDC Sectors 16 and 17, while the work was in progress to establish infrastructure in Modern Industrial Estate (MIE). It would be completed within three weeks.

“In all, 135 industrialists in Bahadurgarh have signed agreements with us to get PNG connections and 25 among them have been given the facility, while others will be provided the connections in three months. The non-availability of meters is the main reason behind delay in releasing connections to industrial units,” he said. The first PNG connection was issued on March 24.

“As per the CAQM directive, industrial units can continue their operations till December 31 if the PNG facility is not available in their areas,” Chauhan said.

Connection cost

Pankaj Chauhan, marketing manager of Haryana City Gas, said the industries had to spend Rs 7-8 lakh for getting a PNG connection of one lakh kilo calories. This includes meter security (Rs 4 lakh), consumption security (Rs 1.85 lakh) and internal pipeline and equipment (Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh). The industrial units also have to pay Rs 58.25 to Rs 61.75 per unit for PNG.