Oil minister Murli Deora calls for expediting gas pipeline construction / Indraprastha Gas

Oil minister Murli Deora, at a meeting with members of Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board has called on the oil marketing regulator to facilitate CNG service to people across more cities with more gas becoming available. He sought a firm roadmap for laying supply lines and roll out of city gas projects.

Deora's meeting with the board comes in the wake of a complaint by the Apex Court appointed environment authority that the oil marketing regulator was 'jeopardising' the launch of CNG services in the neighbourhood of the capital, particularly Ghaziabad. The authority warned that this would hold up seamless public transport across NCR towns.

Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority chairman Bhure Lal had written to Deora pointing out that the regulator's invitation of bids from private firms even when Indraprastha Gas Ltd, the capital's sole CNG supplier, had the ministry's mandate for Ghaziabad would lead to more delays negating the work done to combat air pollution in the city.

In response to Lal's point, Deora asked the regulator to work with the ministry in creating a roadmap to roll out city gas distribution projects across cities, at the same time making it clear that the touchstone would be efficiency and promptness in delivering the fruits of development to the common man.

The regulator and the ministry have clashed on several occasions. Differences first surfaced when the regulator questioned the mandate to companies granted by the ministry even before a regulatory mechanism had been put in place. The regulator had sought to cease the expansion of IGL in Delhi citing dissatisfaction with the 10-year old government letters and notifications pertaining to the formation of IGL and launching of piped gas service.

The ministry had to step in to clear the issue when it said the regulator was not authorised to scrap mandates that were dated prior to the regulator's formation.
IGL derived its mandate from the ministry when the centre was also playing a regulatory role. The regulator had not been set up at the time, which later came into being under a new law.

IGL also was holding permission from the UP government to set up CNG stations along with pipelines. The company went ahead with the setting up of the distribution network but the regulatory board raised objections about the validity of permissions. It ordered IGL to stop work and proceeded to invite bids.

In his letter, Lal had said that 1.2 million vehicles commuted daily between the capital and its environs and the number of to and fro trips was increasing by 30 per cent each year on stretches between Delhi and Lone as well as Gurgaon. Under the circumstances the capital's pollution could be curtailed only if private vehicles were limited and public transport was made seamless which could happen only if all areas had CNG service.