CNG stations to triple in NCR: Petroleum minister

 The government plans to triple the current CNG stations in the national capital region (NCR) for boosting use of the clean fuel, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said here on Monday.

"We have a scheme to triple the number of CNG stations in the national capital region as part of a scheme for a Green Energy Corridor being drawn up for implementation in the next two years," Pradhan told reporters here on the sidelines of a petroleum ministry organised seminar on "Bio Fuel Programme in India-The Way Forward".

"The green corridors being planned would go along in all four directions from Delhi, to Jaipur, to Chandigarh, to Haridwar and to Agra. There will be many more CNG stations en route," the minister said.

"Other such corridors being envisaged are the "triveni" of Allahabad, Kanpur and lucknow and Mumbai-Pune in the west. A Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh southern corridor is very much a possibility. Andhra Pradesh is showing great interest, while Bangalore has already started laying CNG pipelines," he added.Describing "clean energy as gas-based energy", Pradhan said bio-fuels would contribute to the composition of the green energy corridors.