Gas distribution infra in NE states, J&K require new innovations: MoPNG Secretary

The government has launched the 12th CGD bidding round on October 12

City gas distribution infrastructure in northeast states and union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh would require new innovations, said Pankaj Jain, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG).

The government has launched the 12th CGD (city gas distribution) bidding round in six states of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim along with two Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

“We are going into more difficult areas. They are difficult because population is less, distances are of course larger, so vehicular movement would be more but size of villages is smaller. Villages are more sparsely populated and therefore aggregate demand centre is going to be lesser as than what we are used to. And therefore we are going to require some innovations. It is a fertile ground for thinking of new ideas,” said Jain.

“These areas would also represent areas which would be leapfrogging from traditional fuels such as coal-based and biogas-based fuel to modern fuels,” he added.

Post 12th bidding round almost entire country, with the exception of Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshwadweep, would have access to CGD networks. The latest bidding round offers eight geographical areas (GAs) covering 103 districts. The round covers approximately 2 percent of India’s population and its area.