How Delhi NCR is lowering reliance on LPG for cooking
What's the story
Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) is working to expand its piped natural gas (PNG) connections in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR). The company's Managing Director, Kamal Kishore Chatiwal, said they are ramping up their efforts from police stations to fast-food outlets. This comes after the West Asia conflict disrupted energy supplies. The Indian government is now promoting wider adoption of PNG as a more reliable alternative to LPG due to its diversified sourcing and lower reliance on Gulf nations.
Connection increase
Targeting 5,000 PNG connections daily
Before the West Asia crisis, IGL was providing 600-700 PNG connections per day. Now, that number has jumped to 2,100-2,200 a day. Chatiwal said their ultimate target is to ramp it up even further to 5,000 connections daily. The company is not just laying pipelines for households but also targeting fast-food chains affected by LPG supply disruptions after the government prioritized limited cooking gas for homes.
Expansion strategy
PNG for police stations
IGL is also working on providing PNG connections to all police stations in Delhi. This would help eliminate the hassle of arranging refills after cylinders run out of gas. The company has already provided over three million households with PNG in cities such as Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Rewari, Gurugram, Karnal, Kaithal and Fatehpur among others.
Infrastructure
IGL's network in Delhi
IGL has developed a city gas distribution infrastructure of over 28,000km of pipeline network in Delhi-NCR. The company is also catering to the fuel needs of more than 2.1 million CNG vehicles via a network of over 950 CNG stations. In Delhi, IGL is looking at areas where 100% PNG penetration can be achieved and make them LPG-free. Areas such as New Moti Bagh, East Kidwai Nagar and West Kidwai Nagar are already LPG-free as part of this plan.