Punjab govt clears policy for providing gas through pipeline

Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu today said the state government has cleared a policy to provide gas through pipeline for every kind of usage to the urban population in the state.
The minister said the government was framing progressive policies to provide every amenity to the urban sector.
He further elaborated that the petroleum and natural gas regulatory board (PNGRB) accords permission for supplying gas through pipeline and also that the powers to supply the same to the urban consumers rest with the concerned Municipal Corporation/Municipal Council/Nagar Panchayat.
After the PNGRB gives permission, the concerned company would pay rent on per year basis to the urban local bodies under newly framed policy and thus resulting in the economic self dependence of the urban bodies, he said.

The minister said, "in the earlier proposed policy, the companies would have paid entire lifetime rent in one go which would have proved a colossal amount".
The Punjab and Haryana High Court and PNGRB suggested fixing reasonable rates and it is in this context that the department has now decided to extract rent on per year basis instead of onetime payment, he said.

The minister also added that every consumer of urban population whether belonging to the domestic, transportation, business and industrial category would get the gas.
In the first phase, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Mohali, Fatehgarh Sahib and Rupnagar have seen the permission being granted by the PNGRB to the companies for supplying gas through pipeline and the work has been started.

In the second phase, the PNGRB has selected Patiala, Moga, Sangrur, Barnala, Kapurthala and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar to give sanction to the companies to begin the initiative in these areas, which would take off soon.
He said that the department would cover all 167 cities/ towns in the state.