Calcutta’s long wait for clean fuel compressed natural gas (CNG) ended on Monday as two retail outlets started dispensing the gas commercially to consumers.
A BPCL pump at Garia and an Indian Oil outlet at Rajarhat added the city to a long list of urban agglomerates where the gas is available.
At least five more outlets are expected to come up in and around the city to expand the network. The possible locations include Alipore, Belgachia, Rajarhat (Action area III), Chinar Park and Kalyani.
Oil industry executives say expansion of the footprint of CNG stations would be critical to nudge customers to explore the possibility of buying dual feed vehicles or retrofit CNG kits to their existing cars.
Some car owners like Beltala (Hazra)-resident Saumi Biswas did not wait. She bought a Maurti Alto which can run both on petrol and CNG. “Operating cost of the car should be 40-50 per cent lower. Moreover, it is going to be environment friendly,” Biswas said.
Installation of a CNG kit, which includes the storage gas cylinder, in a passenger car is going to eat into the boot space. Yash Khara of Tomasetto Achilles, an Italian firm which deals in CNG and LPG kits, said the apprehension about luggage space has not deterred many passenger car owners from installing the kit in Delhi and Mumbai. “Bigger the boot space is better. However, small car owners are also installing,” he said.
Suresh Bajla of Greenland petrol pump at Garia said 20-25 potential customers have over the last few days enquired about the availability of CNG.
