Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone through video conferencing to mark the commencement of work for City Gas Distribution (CGD), awarded under the ninth CGD bidding round at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Thursday. He also launched the 10th CGD bidding round. In Dehradun, the Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat laid the foundation for the CGD work in Dehradun district.
Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister said that the work for setting up CGD network has started in 129 districts, under the 9th round of CGD bidding. He added that after the 10th round of bidding of CGD, more than 400 districts would be covered under the CGD network, covering around seventy percent of the population.
Stressing that the nation is now moving towards gas based economy, he said the Union Government is paying attention towards all dimensions of gas based economy. Explaining the role of gas based economy in moving towards clean energy, Modi said that CGD network will play a major role in achieving clean energy solutions.
The PM said that more than twelve crore LPG connections were provided in the last four years. He mentioned that gas networks in cities create a new ecosystem, one that enables gas based industries, generates employment to youth and provides ease of living to citizens.
Meanwhile, the CM Trivendra Singh Rawat thanked the PM for bringing Dehradun district on the CGD network.
He expressed hope that GAIL will complete work on this project in one to one and a half year. Stating that this was a new gift for the people in Dehradun, the chief minister said that this development would prove beneficial to the environment in Doon valley. He said that while laying of the gas pipeline will rid the people of various types of inconvenience, establishment of CNG stations will also boost the number of CNG powered vehicles which in turn will curtail the pollution generated by vehicles in Dehradun.
Rawat said that the number of vehicles in Dehradun is rising rapidly even as population pressure is rising consistently in the plains. So, as the vehicular pressure too is expected to rise, CNG is a better fuel in such a scenario. He further said that after Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and Dehradun, work on laying the gas pipeline will also be started in Nainital and other places. Rawat said that the PM had stressed on the use of gas as fuel.
This fuel is less expensive and eco-friendly. This will definitely bring a change in the life of people in Dehradun and improve general life, he added. The Union minister of State for Textiles, Ajay Tamta also expressed his views on the occasion.
MPs Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah, MLAs Harbans Kapoor, Umesh Sharma ‘Kau’, Indian Institute of Petroleum director Anjan Ray and Sanjeev Kumar from GAIL India among others were also present on the occasion.