KOLKATA: After a wait of more than two decades since the green fuel started being used in the country, the city will finally have CNG from next week. Bengal Gas company, a JV between GAIL and state-owned Greater Calcutta Gas will market CNG through its maiden station for now. CNG will be supplied by Essar from its Durgapur field by compressing CBM. The first outlet that will sell CNG commercially will be a BPCL outlet in Greenland, Garia.
Essar Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Ltd (EOGEPL) said it had filled and dispatched the first Compressed Coal Bed Methane (C-CBM) Natural Gas cascade truck for Bengal Gas Company’s CNG station. “This will help fulfil our promise of providing clean energy and green fuel to Kolkata, paving the way for reduction of vehicular pollution,” the company said.
Bengal Gas CEO Satyabrata Bairagi told TOI that they need permission from the state to start operation of the CNG station. Bairagi indicated that things will fall in place in the next eight-ten days. According to him, Bengal Gas will invest Rs 7,000 crore for setting up the gas grid in Kolkata and adjacent areas in the next few years. The GAIL JV with the state is planning to set up 186 CNG stations in the Kolkata area depending on CNG demand and conversion of existing vehicles into CNG-run ones. Besides Kolkata, BGC has city gas distribution rights for areas in Howrah, Hooghly, Nadia and North and South 24 Parganas.
