GAIL ready to invest Rs 35 crore on CNG

The National Green Tribunal (NGT), eastern zone bench, has given the chief secretary (CS) 15 days to decide whether Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) should be entrusted with natural gas distribution in the city through a pipeline by itself or a joint venture company should be set up for this. The gas major plans to complete its 2,539km long pipeline from Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh to Haldia by 2020. It proposes to distribute gas in seven cities, including Kolkata, enroute. Environment activist Subhas Datta had moved the NGT in September last year, to introduce natural gas in Kolkata. The green bench had passed several directions, after which the state government and GAIL have been at loggerheads with technical issues regarding the CNG distribution.