Bengal decides to enter into joint venture with GAIL

The West Bengal government decided to enter into a joint venture with the Gas Authority of India Limited to supply natural gas to every household in greater Kolkata. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee gave her approval to the joint venture at a meeting of the Cabinet’s standing committee on industry held at the state secretariat, state finance minister Amit Mitra said. “It’s been a long time since we are talking about city gas supply and now today the decision has been taken by the chief minister,”. He said that GCGSC, which is a 100 per cent state-owned company, will have an equity of 26 per cent while GAIL will hold 74 per cent stake for the Rs 3,000-crore project, the minister said. The GAIL would invest for the project while the state government would provide various assets like the land and infrastructure support, he said.