Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation of a Rs 776 crore city gas distribution project for Dhanbad and Giridih from New Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan, the online function seen live at the New Town Hall of Dhanbad in the presence of a host of dignitaries, including state urban development minister C.P. Singh, MP P.N. Singh, mayor Chandrashekhar Agarwal and MLA Raj Sinha.
Locally, C.P. Singh did the honours to start the project wherein GAIL (India) will set up CNG (compressed natural gas) stations for the transport sector while PNG (piped natural gas) will be supplied to households, industries and commercial units.
The city gas project will cover 7,002 sqkm in the two districts, and include 21 charge areas, namely, Baliapur, Dhanbad- Kenduadih-Jogta, Nirsa-Chirkunda, Govindpur, Purbi Tundi, Topchanchi, Tundi, Baghmara-Katras, Bengabad, Birni, Deori, Dhanwar, Dumri, Gande, Gawan, Giridih, Jamua, Pirtand, Suriya, Tisri and Bagodar.
There will be 30 CNG stations spread over both the districts and a 650km pipeline network that will laid to benefit around 51 lakh people of around 50,000 households that will get piped natural gas.
GAIL (India) won the rights to the city gas distribution project for Dhanbad and Giridih districts in the 9th round of bidding conducted by the petroleum and natural gas regulatory board.
Minister C.P. Singh, who was chief guest, said, “As per the commitment of several entities during the 9th round of bidding in Jharkhand, 1,29,052 domestic PNG connections would be given and 129 CNG stations would be set up over eight years till September, 2026. Once ready, residents will not have to stand in queue for LPG cylinders. Instead, gas will reach their homes.”
He added that work on a similar project had already begun in Ranchi. “Now, due to the effort of local MP P.N. Singh the scheme has reached Dhanbad,” C.P. Singh said.
Among the others present during the function were senior officials of the district administration and police, including Dhanbad deputy commissioner A. Dodde, deputy development commissioner Shashi Ranjan, sub-divisional officer Raj Maheshwaram and additional district magistrate (supply) Shashi Prakash Jha.
