Maharashtra Natural Gas (MNGL) has urged 0.4 million (mn) households in Pune whose housing societies already have piped natural gas infrastructure to register for connections and switch from liquefied petroleum gas to piped natural gas by October one, citing convenience, safety and continued pressure on LPG supplies. Officials said government notifications indicate that households in societies where PNG infrastructure has been laid will be required to take connections. The appeal follows disruptions to global energy supplies that affected LPG availability in India. MNGL said the crisis prompted it to accelerate PNG connections, with daily domestic installations rising from about 150 before the crisis to between 400 and 450 at present. The company reported that pipelines now reach around 0.9 mn households in Pune, of which about 0.5 mn are already using piped natural gas. Across MNGL’s wider geographical area the network reaches around 1.2 mn households and approximately 6,500 housing societies have been gasified. The company said it had significantly increased the pace of connections and was simplifying procedures to make the process easier for consumers, providing around 400 to 450 domestic PNG connections every day in Pune with registrations arriving at almost the same rate. MNGL has expanded its workforce by partnering with 78 industrial training institutes across Maharashtra to train personnel for gas pipeline work. Commercial PNG connections have risen from about 50 a year before the crisis to at least two a day, while industrial customers in areas such as Chakan and Talegaon are also being connected. MNGL advised that shifting households that already have access to PNG could free up LPG cylinders for areas where piped gas infrastructure is not yet available, particularly rural regions. The immediate focus is on increasing registrations and completing connections in societies where the pipeline network is already available. Company officials framed the drive as an appeal rather than a compulsion while urging timely uptake to ease supply pressure.