Three more CNG filling stations in Patna, Naubatpur by August

PATNA: The Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) will set up three more CNG (compressed natural gas) filling stations in Patna and Naubatpur by August this year to cater to the residents who wish to opt for cleaner, environment-friendly fuel to run their vehicles. The new CNG stations will come up at petrol pumps near Zero Mile (Bypass Road), Saguna Mor and Naubatpur.
The CNG stations will be set up under the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga Yojana and will be connected to the eastern and north-eastern states with the national gas grid.The GAIL aims to set up 10 CNG stations in city by March 2020.
Deputy general manager (project) of GAIL (Patna), Rajneesh Kumar Goel, told this newspaper on Sunday that of the three new CNG stations, two will be mother stations and one at Zero Mile will be daughter booster station.
Mother stations are directly connected to the pipelines. CNG is made available in Patna through Haldia-Jagdishpur gas pipeline. CNG daughter station does not have the connectivity of natural gas pipeline. At these stations, CNG is transported through mobile cascades (bunch of cylinders) and then dispensed to vehicles through CNG dispensers.
Rajneesh said the estimated cost of setting up one CNG station is around Rs2.5 crore to 3 crore. “With the three more by August-end, Patna will have five CNG stations. Five more CNG stations will be opened by the end of March 2020,” he said.
Currently, two CNG stations are functioning at Rukanpura (mother station) and Choti Pahari (daughter booster station). According to GAIL sources, the daily consumption of CNG at Rukanpura station is between 2,000 and 2,500kg while it is 1,500kg at Choti Pahari. The two stations had been launched in February this year.
Rajneesh said around 1,500 CNG vehicles were running in the city and most of them were autorickshaws. He said 1500 more autorickshaws have been provided with the licence to run on CNG.
According to GAIL sources, they are looking for private parties to set up in collaboration more CNG stations in the city. “It is difficult to get land for the CNG stations. However, we got some proposals that are under consideration,” the sources said.