Media reports suggest that Indraprastha Gas (IGL) provided 87,000 piped natural gas (PNG) connections in the national capital region (NCR) during 2011-12.
Of this, nearly 55,000 were in Delhi. It is the largest number of connections IGL provided in a year, reports quoted a spokesperson of the firm as saying.
IGL, which distributes natural gas in the city, started operations in 1999 but has only around three lakh domestic customers.
Sale of PNG amounts to just 4-5 percent of its total business. IGL claims it has gas pipelines in 75 percent of the approved areas in the city, but it is unable to provide connections to all applicants there.
In areas like Rohini, Safdarjung Development Area, Sidhartha Enclave, Rajendra Nagar, Karol Bagh etc, many residents have been waiting for connections for months.
Over the years, the demand for natural gas in the city has increased but mainly due to vehicles run on CNG. Delhi needs more than 2.8 million metric standard cubic metre (MMSCM) of natural gas (CNG and PNG) per day and its daily allocation is 2 MMSCM. Of this, the average daily PNG use is just 0.13-0 .14 MMSCM.
IGL claims building a piped network and providing gas connections is an infrastructure intensive job. A technical feasibility study of the area is done before starting work but location of drains, resistance from locals, permission to dig etc can become hurdles.
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