50-km gas pipeline to be laid in Bathinda

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, April 24

Gujarat State Petronet Limited will lay 50-km gas pipeline and would also supply liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to households in the district.

The company has already initiated the process of taking permission and completing other formalities before starting ground work on this.

The company has written an application to the Municipal Corporation of Bathinda (MCB) seeking permission for the laying of the gas pipeline in the city.

It is estimated that around Rs 50 lakh expenditure would be incurred in lying of one km pipeline. Apart from the city, nearby areas such as Rampura, Goniana and Talwandi Sabo have also been included in the project.

XEN Sandeep Gupta said, “We have received an application from the company for the permission of laying gas pipeline in the city, but there are a few deficiencies, which we have communicated to them. Once they complete the paperwork, we will give the permission.”

Senior deputy mayor Tarsem Goyal said, “The process of laying the gas pipeline has been initiated. This is a good step as gas would be directly provided to the houses and there will be no use of LPG cylinders.”

In February, a policy was drafted by the Local Government Department after examining the policy of Gujarat, as suggested by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), and in consultation with the departments concerned.

The state government has fixed Rs 50 per meter rent, which will be Rs 25 lakh for the 50-km pipe line annually.

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board has authorised five companies in the state to lay gas pipeline in Bathinda, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Roopnagar and SAS Nagar.

In the state government approved policy, it has made many documents mandatory for taking approval from various departments.

The company has to attach map of laying the pipeline, along with a common application form.

It also has to submit the map location, route plan, land detail, work plan (area wise and time wise), methodology to be used for laying the pipeline.

It will have to deposit processing fee as well. It will also have to give information regarding depth, thickness, height and cross section of the pipe.