Reliance , Essar may set up CNG plant in HP

In order to control pollution in Shimla, the Himachal Pradesh transport department is planning to hire the services of Reliance and Essar for setting up a compressed natural gas (CNG) plant.

"The department will soon contact Reliance and Essar with the proposal, after which their experts will visit Shimla for setting up a CNG mother station," said a state senior government official, Rakesh Sharma.

"These two companies, Reliance and Essar, will submit a feasibility report to the state transport department and either of the two private companies could set up a CNG plant here," he added.

The state transport department had, last year, contacted Indian Oil for setting up a CNG plant but Indian Oil said a CNG plant in Shimla would not be profitable because the town had relatively low traffic. Therefore, the state transport wing has now decided to hire private companies to prepare a feasibility report.

With a population of over 175,000, Shimla is a popular tourism destination but its narrow roads are increasingly getting congested, giving rise to air pollution.