Ministry aims to extend gas services to uncharted territories in India

The regions up for bidding encompass Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, as well as the Union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. In the announcement, Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri revealed that following this bidding cycle, gas services will extend to the remaining uncovered regions, primarily the islands. Upon successful completion, gas coverage will span across the entirety of India, with the exception of Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep. Presently, India boasts 1.15 crore households with piped natural gas connections and approximately 5,900 CNG stations nationwide. The city gas sector currently utilises around 35 million standard cubic meters per day, constituting a quarter of the country's total gas consumption. In the preceding 11th and 11A CGD bidding rounds, PNGRB authorised 67 Gas Areas (GAs) for the expansion of the City Gas Distribution (CGD) network throughout the nation.