Two crore people to get gas connections through pipeline in 3 yrs

Mumbai, Oct 16 (UNI) The Union Ministry for Petroleum and Natural Gas plans to make natural gas available to two crore of the country's population within next three years.

This announcement was made by Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Murali Deora here today. He was here to discuss the draft policy for development of natural gas pipelines and city or local natural gas distribution network with various public and private sector oil companies.

Mr Deora told reporters that the city gas projects are supposed to be developed in 25 cities of the country, thus covering two crore of country's population within a period of next three years.

A policy on the same would be announced within a week, while another policy on gas pricing would be announced by the government by the end of the current month, he elaborated.

The Minister added that a regulator for petroleum and natural gas would be appointed by November-end.

The process for the appointment of the chairman and other members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) would begin soon. The idea behind setting up of the PNGRB was to regulate downstream petroleum and natural gas sectors.

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