Missing of Ganjam’s name in the list of 11 districts of Odisha, shortlisted by the Regulatory Board of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for supply of cooking gas to households through pipelines, has been viewed as step-motherly attitude of the Centre by many.
People of Ganjam are unhappy that none of towns of Ganjam district figured in the final list to get domestic cooking gas through pipelines in coming days. This has exposed the partisan attitude of the Union Government in general and Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry in particular,” said a senior leader of the BJD.
Notably, gas pipeline projects have already been established in Khordha and Cuttack districts. In addition to these existing two projects, 11 districts have reportedly been shortlisted for laying of pipes for supply of lPS directly to households. The districts are Bhadrak, Jharsuguda, Sundargarah, Kendrapada, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Balangir, Sambalpur, Subarnapur and Bargarh.
When neighbouiring Khorda district is in the list, exclusion of Ganjam district has irked its residents. This has given a chance to the Ganjam BJD to counter the Union Government.
Significantly, Ganjam, the largest district of the State, has Brahmapur Municipal Corporation (BMC), Hinjilikatu Municipality and 16 NACs. In spite of having huge geographical area and demography, the district has been neglected. This has become evident from an official communication received by the District Collector and the BDA Chairperson, sources said.
The PNG Regulator Board has reportedly imposed certain terms for establishing cooking gas pipelines in the district which includes sanction of permission and NoC through single-window system and asked the State Housing and Urban Development Ministry to furnish views, sources said.
It may be noted that over the years, the GAIl, as a major pipeline operator, has contributed to the growth and development of natural gas pipeline infrastructure and natural gas market. It has 10,977-km of robust gas pipeline infrastructure with a capacity of 210 MMSCMD in 16 States.