CNG shortage: CEO says allocation of HCG not raised, have to prioritise PNG

Gurgaon: Is there a CNG shortage in the city or not? The answer will be different, depending on the station you visit. But for now, a longer wait seems inevitable wherever you go.
The two companies that supply CNG and piped gas to the city have given contrasting accounts of their positions. Haryana City Gas (HCG), which has the bigger network, says it is falling well short of demand while Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) says there is no shortage and has, in fact, announced the addition of five new stations to its existing network of 15 in the city.
For over a week now, the shortage at HCG has been affecting residents and transporters. “I don’t get why CNG pumps on Sohna Road are functioning normally even at midnight but not stations in some other areas,” Naresh Singh, a cab driver, said on Wednesday. But at the Sohna Road station, too, he had to wait a couple of hours because “there was a huge rush”.
HCG, a private entity, has 34 CNG stations. But it is struggling to strike a balance between its PNG commitments in residential and industrial areas and CNG for vehicles. The company says the current demand is 4 lakh standard cubic metre (SCM) a day but its allocation is 2.5 lakh SCM, which has not been revised by the Union petroleum ministry.
“Thus, (this is) forcing us to shut down CNG stations because household and industrial PNG supply is a priority. Until our allocation is increased, commercial users like cab and auto drivers, sadly, will have to suffer because it is beyond our control to meet their demands,” HCG CEO Rahul Chopra told TOI.
Domestic gas allocation is revised every three months based on the gas utilisation policy of the government. There are two types of gas that are allocated: domestic gas and Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) or imported gas. Predominantly, it is domestic gas that is used for PNG and CNG because of its cost efficiency.
In Gurgaon, IGL services over 20,000 household connections and over 200 industrial connections between NH-8 and the Sohna Road area. HCG services around 30,000 household PNG connections and over 500 industrial connections.
There has also been a protracted legal tussle over gas distribution in Gurgaon with the dispute being heard in the Supreme Court.
HCG, which has 600 km of pipeline coverage, claims its allocation has not been revised even though it has submitted its report on the quarterly allocation revision. “We have the capacity to increase PNG coverage to 1 lakh households and add 50 additional CNG stations if we get the required allocation. We have been writing to the ministry to revise our allocation. They have assured us they are working on it. But without a timeline, we are forced to rationalise our distribution and as a result, commuters and residents of the city are facing the brunt,” Chopra noted. ”Ideally, our request for revision of domestic gas allocation should be given equal weightage, if not more, as that of IGL since majority of the city depends on our distribution,” Chopra added.
GAIL and BPCL-promoted IGL has been approaching the government to allow it to lay pipelines for commercial and household PNG connections in all of Gurgaon. “We have a good presence in Gurgaon and sufficient infrastructure to cater to the current distribution of 1 lakh kg a day and even take on additional 50% demand. In the next three months, we’ll have five more pumps in the city,” IGL director (commercial) Pawan Kumar said.