311 villages in Delhi will have PNG connections by Dec: L-G Saxena

New Delhi, June 20

Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena recently reviewed the progress of Piped Natural Gas (PNG) supply in capital’s urban villages, a Raj Niwas official said on Thursday.

• 200 villages will be equipped with PNG by December
• 111 villages already have PNG connections
• Indraprastha Gas Limited has laid 672 km of pipeline
• Pipelines were laid in just six months after many rounds of talks
• The first-ever PNG connection was in Qutabgarh village

Saxena was informed that the supply had been made available in 111 villages so far and another 200 villages will be equipped with PNG by December this year, the officials added.

“311 villages out of the total 383 villages in the national capital, will be equipped with PNG connections by December this year. The remaining 72 villages will be equipped with PNG facility by March 2025,” an official said.

Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) officials told Saxena that this would benefit 1.79 lakh households, out of which 1.29 lakh applications had been received so far. “Against the 1.30 lakh applications, 77,513 meters have been installed so far. In these 111 villages, the IGL has laid 672 km of pipeline.” the official added.

Saxena had undertaken the plan to establish PNG connection in Delhi’s villages in June 2023 as part of his plan to transform and develop the villages.

After several rounds of meetings with IGL and other concerned agencies, officials said that in just six months, pipelines were laid.

The first ever PNG connection in North West Delhi’s Qutabgarh village was inaugurated by the L-G in December 2023. This was also the first venture of IGL in Delhi’s rural areas, which was till date confined to the selected urban residential colonies only, officials added.

In March 2024, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had inaugurated PNG connection in 41 urban villages.

During the review meeting, the L-G had also directed the concerned agencies – Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Public Works Department, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and New Delhi Municipal Corporation – to accord top priority to PNG supply and ensure that all requisite permissions for laying PNG pipelines and other formalities is completed in maximum 30 days, an official said.