New Delhi: Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said in Rajya Sabha on Monday that 98 percent of the country's population will be covered with piped cooking gas following the latest round of expansion work. Puri, in reply to a supplementary question, said that once the bidding is awarded, it usually takes a few years for the expansion of the infrastructure.
"After the 11th round of bidding, we would have over 82 percent of our land area and 98 percent of our population complete so that piped cooking gas can be delivered to households," said Puri. "The only population that will be left out will be some areas in the North East and Jammu and Kashmir because they are widely dispersed. Typically, cooking gas that comes through the pipe is cheaper and more consumer-friendly than that supplied through cylinders," he added.
Pointing out that beneficiaries of the Ujjawala scheme were provided with free LPG cylinders during the Covid-19 pandemic, Puri said that the number of gas cylinders went up from 14 crores in 2014 to 30 crore so far. He said that the entire population will be covered adding that it was a work in progress. Puri also said that the Union Government is setting up 50 LNG stations over the next few years out of the proposed 1000. Puri said that there was no proposal to come up with an Administered Price Mechanism (APM) for both CNG and LNG to ensure firm prices adding that petroleum products are outside the purview of GST.
