Karnal industrial units to wait more for PNG supply

rveen Arora

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Tribune News Service

Karnal, February 9

The supply of eco-friendly piped natural gas (PNG) in the industrial area of the city will take more time. It is expected that industrialists of the city will get the PNG supply either by the end of March or by the beginning of April as the work to lay the pipeline from Panipat to Karnal along the National Highway-44 has not completed so far. Earlier, it was claimed that the industrial area would get PNG supply by the end of December 2019.

Indraprastha Gas Ltd, the company assigned for the project to ensure PNG connections and supply to the industrial area by the Union Petroleum Ministry, has written to the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) to start the PNG supply in the industrial area the end of March or beginning of April. In 2019, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had directed the industries to switch to PNG instead of using existing fuel in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) by mid-August. “The company has given us in writing that it will start the supply in the industrial area by the end of March. We are hopeful it will meet the deadline,” said SK Arora, area engineer of the HSPCB.

He said the NGT had already made the use of PNG mandatory in industries located in the NCR to check pollution. Ankush Jain, Regional Head (Karnal and Kaithal) of the firm, said work to install pipelines was underway. “We are laying the pipelines in the industrial area as well as between Karnal and Panipat. We are hopeful the industrial area of the city will get PNG supply soon,” he said. “So far, we have given around 4,000 domestic PNG connections in the city,” he added.

Industrialists demanded that the company must speed up the work. “We have been instructed by the NGT to use PNG instead of existing fuel, but we are not able to do so as PNG supply is yet to be started here. The company should speed up the work, so that we don’t get any further warning from the NGT as well as from the HSPCB,” said Manoj Arora, president, Karnal HSIIDC Association.