Speed up rollout of piped gas in North East: Dharmendra Pradhan to OMCs

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has asked the oil marketing firms to speed up expansion of city gas distribution network and provide compressed and piped natural gas connections in the North East.

"Speed up roll-out of city gas distribution to provide CNG/PNG connections and early completion of ongoing infrastructure projects to meet requirement of products in the region," Pradhan said in his concluding remarks in a review meeting on 'marketing infrastructure and availability of petroleum products in the North East Region' in Guwahati yesterday.

Pradhan also urged oil marketing companies to step up release of connections under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana to cover all eligible households, identify points for opening Extension counters to make LPG easily available in remote areas and promote the availability of 5 kg cylinders.

The meeting was attended by ministers from Assam and Manipur, senior officials of the ministry and representatives of all North-Eastern states, an oil ministry statement said on Saturday.

In the meeting, current status of availability of petroleum products and upcoming infrastructure projects in the region were reviewed, it said.

Inputs on current product availability, problems encountered and suggestions to improve were shared by the participating states, it added.