Rs 1 per meter fixed on centre’s instructions: Minister M B Patil

Bengaluru

There has been a delay in providing gas connections to every home due to different local administrations in the state. Now this problem has been resolved and more than 60 lakh homes will be supplied with cooking gas through pipelines by 2030, said Minister for Large and Medium Industries MB Patil.

He was replying to a question asked by BJP member DS Arun in the Legislative Council.

As per the city gas supply policy in various states, one rupee per meter has been fixed for installing gas supply pipes. The central government has also written a letter to the state and informed it about the good initiatives in many states. At that time, the BJP government led by Basavaraj Bommai was in power. We also accepted this as a public interest and environment-friendly measure. Accordingly, a total of 66.25 lakh households have been connected and 1,022 CNG refill stations have been opened in the state, he said.

This project was launched in 2015 and the Gas Authority of India (GAIL) took up its work in Bengaluru. Till 2023, 4.07 lakh households have been provided gas supply connections and 320 CNG stations have been opened. A new policy was formulated after seeing its slow progress. After that, this facility has been provided to another 1.01 lakh households and 154 CNG stations have been opened. Now, he informed that coordination meetings are being held with local urban bodies to give further speed.

An undertaking has been written by the concerned parties stating that the profit generated from this should be transferred to the consumers by the gas supply companies in the future. This aspect has also been incorporated in the new policy, the Minister replied to a question.