Jharkhand on Saturday got its first compressed natural gas (CNG) refill station in Bokaro under the country’s city gas distribution project, a move expected to reduce transport budgets and pollution in the long run.

The Indian Oil outlet, KL Bhasin and Company, is the first of 129 such CNG refill stations slotted for Jharkhand under city gas distribution project. Dhanbad MP P.N. Singh in the presence of Bokaro MLA Viranchi Narain inaugurated the refill station for the environment-friendly fuel at Naya More, Bokaro.

Indian Oil’s chief manager (corporate communications, planning and coordination) Bihar state office Veena Kumari said they would set up 99 CNG refill stations in Bokaro, Ramgarh and Hazaribagh while Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) would set up the rest in Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad.

She said that in the days to come they would organise awareness sessions on the benefits of using this environment friendly fuel. One kilo of CNG is energy equivalent to 1.39 litres of petrol and 1.18 litres of diesel. “Few know CNG is between 20 and 30 per cent cheaper than conventional fuels (petrol and diesel). CNG also offers better mileage and its use reduces the maintenance cost of vehicles,” she said.

Experts say CNG offers over 17 per cent more efficiency than petrol and between 10 and 12 per cent more than diesel.

Both Indian Oil and GAIL had bagged the central bid for CNG and piped natural gas facilities in Jharkhand as part of the city gas distribution network scheme of Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB).

She said the company would invest Rs 600-crore in the city gas distribution project in Bokaro-Hazaribagh and Ramgarh districts over a period of eight years.

“Petroleum and natural gas supply in Bokaro, Hazaribagh and Ramgarh have been planned from Dhobi-Durgapur-Haldia-Bokaro-Dhamra pipeline section of 2,540km-long Urja Ganga gas pipeline project, launched in 2016. The pipeline is likely to be commissioned by December 2020. Thereafter, Bokaro-Hazaribagh-Ramgarh will have direct pipeline connectivity from gas source,” Kumari added.

The Urja Ganga gas pipeline project was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his constituency Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The 2,540km-long pipeline is planned to be laid across states from Uttar Pradesh to Odisha.