It will be gradually expanded to other areas in phases. According to BGCL, the expanded network will serve 10,000 households in Kalyani with PNG.“>The supply of piped natural gas (PNG) will begin in the KMDA area for the first time starting from Kalyani in the first week of Nov, the Bengal Gas Company Limited (BGCL) said. BGCL, a joint venture between GAIL and the state government-owned Greater Calcutta Gas Supply Corporation, will start supplying PNG to 171 houses initially, where gas meters have been installed.
The company started PNG supply at Uniworld and Rosedale housing complexes in New Town in December 2023 by carrying gas in cascade from Panagarh before flowing it into a pipeline infrastructure there to make it available in the kitchens, which continues till now.
“But in Kalyani we will not use cascade and gas will be supplied to the households only through pipeline. So, we can say it will begin PNG supply in true sense,” BGCL CEO Anupam Mukherjee said. The company has already laid about 22 km of medium density poly-ethylene (MDPE) branch pipeline around Kalyani Central Park. The PNG supply will initially begin in ward numbers 9, 12 and 14.
It will be gradually expanded to other areas in phases. According to BGCL, the expanded network will serve 10,000 households in Kalyani with PNG.
The Gail pipeline from Durgapur has been laid till Gayeshpur in Nadia via Rajarambati. BGCL has laid another pipeline from Gayeshpur to Kalyani and then further extending it to Baruipur via Barrackpore, Airport and Chingrighata to cater Kolkata, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas district.
“We have constructed a mother station along the pipeline path till Kalyani Central Park. We have set up a district regulatory station there to reduce pressure of gas before being supplied to the houses,” Mukherjee elaborated.
BGCL now has a total 420 post-paid PNG customers in Uniworld, Rosedale and Urbana in Kolkata and Alcove in Serampore. But unlike Kalyani, they are all being supplied gas by combination of cascade and pipeline network. BGCL is the sole licensee to supply CNG and PNG in 1,519 square km in Greater Kolkata, including Kolkata Municipal Corporation area and parts of Howrah, Hooghly, Nadia, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Pargana.
Indian Oil-Adani JV began PNG supply in Panagarh three years back, first in Bengal.
HP also commenced PNG supply in some parts of Nadia and Hooghly and Falta in South Bengal and Jalpaiguri in April this year.
