In a bid to build a natural gas-based economy, 166 compressed natural gas (CNG) stations have been inaugurated on July 15, 2022.These CNG stations have been set up by GAIL (India) Limited and nine of its group city gas distribution (CGD) companies in 41 geographical areas (GAs) across 14 states.
These CNG stations have been commissioned at an investment of Rs 4 billion and will further strengthen the gas-based infrastructure and availability of cleaner fuel in the country. As compared to 2014 (when there were about 900 CNG stations), currently the number of CNG stations have crossed 4,500, and will be ramped up to 8,000 in the next two years. The number of piped natural gas (PNG) connections have also now crossed 9.5 million as compared to about 2.4 million in 2014.
The rollout of CNG on such a scale is expected to incentivise market for CNG vehicles and will have exponential impact in terms of manufacturing, skill development and employment generation. Further, these CNG stations will provide direct employment to about 1,000 persons.