Despite the Gujarat High Court and the Supreme Court orders to the Centre to provide CNG under the Administered Price Mechanism (APM) to Gujarat from December 1, consumers are not getting CNG and PNG at lower price due to differences over selection of gas delivery point.
The Centre had filed an affidavit of compliance in the Gujarat High Court earlier this month stating that it would supply CNG at uniform price to city gas distributors (CGDs) by November 30.
However, the Centre's decision to pick Hazira-Suvali as the delivery point has irked the state, which has demanded that Dahej should be fixed as the delivery point instead.
"The Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) issued gas sales contract on Friday (November 29). Moreover, Hazira-Suvali has been picked as the delivery point. It is technically not feasible to receive gas from this point as the gas supply pressure is as low as 35 to 45 bars at this point," state Energy Minister Saurabh Patel said.
He said that the Central government and GAIL know that if gas is supplied from Hazira-Suvali point, people would get it at low pressure and it would eventually prove costlier to the people.
"For Gujarat, it is not feasible to provide gas from this point. In fact, the Centre doesn't seem to intend to provide cheap CNG to the people of Gujarat," he said.
The minister demanded that GAIL should make Dahej as the delivery point, following which the state government can provide cheap gas to people.
"Since Gujarat State Petronet Ltd's (GSPL) high pressure gas grid is not connected to the CGD network of Hazira-Suvali, it is mostly impossible to receive gas from there. In such a case, if GAIL fixes Dahej in Bharuch as the delivery point, the gas delivery would be easier due to pipeline network connection between Petronet LNG terminal at Dahej and GSPL," Patel said.
