Centre wants to bring piped gas to Kolkata in one yr: Pradhan

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday said the Centre wants to bring piped natural gas to the city in next one year and sought support from the West Bengal government for the project.

The minister said half of the projected expenditure of Rs 102 trillion in infrastructure sector in the next five years will be invested in eastern and northeastern states.

"Half of Rs 102 lakh crore infrastructure spending will be invested in eastern states. No Prime Minister prior to Narendra Modi gave such importance to the eastern provinces," Pradhan said while addressing 119th annual general meeting of Bharat Chamber of Commerce (BCC) here.

The petroleum and natural gas minister also announced that he wished to "bring piped gas to Kolkata in one year".

Asked whether the central government was facing any problem from the state in the project, Pradhan said, "There had been no such issues but we expect continued support."

State-run GAIL is executing 2,655 km-long Jagdishpur- Haldia-Bokaro-Dhamra pipeline and Barauni-Guwahati pipeline with a length 729 km under Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga Project to connect Eastern India.

The exploration in the Bengal-Purnea basin will be carried out soon as the state-run ONGC won the block in the latest bid round under Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), the minister said.

Meanwhile, West Bengal transport minister Suvendu Adhikari had said the state government planned to roll out CNG buses in the city by March this year.

The state government had signed an agreement with GAIL to supply the compressed natural gas (CNG) on tankers to feed one of its fuel station in the southern part of the city.