Ahead of the second-phase of odd-even rule for plying of cars in national capital, the Union Government today offered to supply natural gas to the city's stranded power stations to help switch from polluting coal generated electricity.
Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the natural gas can be supplied to the Bawana power plant at a price of USD 7.5-8 per million British thermal unit, that will help generate power at less than Rs 5-6 per unit Delhi pays for getting electricity from the coal-based Badarpur power station.
"Switching from Badarpur to cleaner gas-based power from Bawana will help cut pollution much more than plying cars by odd-even rule. I am told switching off Badarpur for one year can save on emissions benefits equivalent to 18 years from odd-even plying of cars," he said.
Pradhan was speaking at a function organised to dedicate 36 new CNG dispensing stations in the National Capital Region (NCR).
The 1,500 MW Bawana power plant in Delhi operates at less than a fifth of its capacity for the past four years. The plant was to be commissioned before the 2010 Commonwealth Games but was delayed by an year.
The second phase of odd-even scheme, under which cars with registration number ending in odd number would be allowed to ply on odd days and with even number on even days, is to begin from April 15.
"There are about 350 CNG stations in NCR. We plan to add 100 more. 36 stations have been opened today and the rest would be done by May 15," he said.
30 out of these stations have been installed by Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) at the petrol pumps of oil marketing companies like IOC, BPCL and HPCL.
Three stations have been set up by Haryana City Gas in Gurgaon, 1 station by GAIL Gas in Sonepat and 2 stations by Adani gas - one each in Faridabad and Khurja (Bulandshahar) have been set up.
While 25 out of these 36 CNG stations are located in NCT of Delhi, 11 are located in NCR - Ghaziabad, Greater Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat and Khurja.
Pradhan underlined the commitment of the central government to make CNG available across the country so that clean fuel is accessible at doorsteps for all.
He said that CNG corridors across Delhi-Mathura-Agra- Lucknow-Bareilly, Delhi-Chandigarh, Delhi-Jaipur and Delhi- Haridwar would be operational shortly so that the vehicles can run long distances on CNG.
He reiterated that CGD industry has been given top priority in natural gas allocation.
Out of the 1026 CNG stations currently in operation in the country, about 34 per cent are located in Delhi and adjoining NCR towns.
Delhi/NCR has 347 CNG stations of about 77 lakh kg per day CNG dispensing capacity. All 4 CGD companies operating in Delhi/NCR have planned to augment the existing CNG dispensing capacity to 88 lakh kg per day by developing additional CNG stations in Delhi/NCR.
