The Urja Ganga pipeline, which is India's largest initiative to bring environmentally friendly gas to hitherto untapped regions, has brought the advantages of cheaper natural gas costs to the hinterland, aiding in the expansion of the use of the cleaner fuel, according to official sources. Since only the Western and Northern regions of the country had pipelines connecting the fuel's source to consumers, natural gas was previously only available in these regions for use as a fuel to produce electricity, fertiliser, or convert into CNG and cooking gas. A 2,655-km pipeline that would run from Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh to Haldia in West Bengal, Bokaro in Jharkhand, and Dhamra in Odisha began construction in October 2016. To transport the petroleum to previously unconnected states in the East, a 726 km line from Barauni in Bihar was constructed to Guwahati in Assam. The Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga pipeline, also known as the Jagdishpur-Haldia-Bokaro-Dhamra Pipeline (JHBDPL), is now prepared to deliver gas to the eastern states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal, according to official sources. Following the government's decision to lower the price of input natural gas, has enabled consumers in these areas to reap the benefits of lower CNG and piped cooking gas prices. Consumers in 20 hinterland towns and cities have now benefited from a rate cut of about Rs 5-7. The least expensive way to transport gas is by pipeline. According to sources, the state-owned gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd was given permission to lay JHBDPL in order to transport gas to the eastern states of India. For JHBDPL's construction, the government paid a viability gap funding of 40 per cent, totalling Rs 51.76 billion. Additionally, GAIL is building the Barauni-Guwahati pipeline as part of JHBDPL. This pipeline will serve as a source for the North East Gas Grid and is being built with 60 per cent viability gap funding, or Rs 55.59 billion, in order to connect all of the North Eastern states to natural gas sources and supply gas to all areas of the nation. The Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga pipeline will link all of the regions (more than 90) that are dispersed over the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, and farther to the country's north-eastern region. With the completion of this project, they claimed, the North Eastern and Eastern regions of India will become an essential element of the gas-based economy, enjoying the advantages of both the cheapest gas transportation via Urja Ganga and gas pricing reforms. The transportation rate has been reduced by almost 50 per cent to Rs 99.90 per million British thermal units for the eastern sections under the unified pricing regulations recently announced by the industry regulator Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), making the clean fuel cheaper. The updated domestic natural gas pricing rules for gas generated from nominated fields controlled by the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India were approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs last week. The cost of such natural gas shall be announced on a monthly basis and shall equal 10 per cent of the monthly average of the Indian crude basket. There will be a floor price and a ceiling for gas generated from ONGC/OIL's nomination fields. As a result, petrol is now less expensive per mmBtu, at $ 6.5 instead of $ 8.57. They added that the reforms will result in a significant drop in the cost of compressed natural gas (CNG) for transportation as well as piped cooking gas for homes, as well as a reduction in the burden of fertiliser subsidies and support for the domestic energy sector. Also Read Govt issues guidelines for development of pumped storage projectsTorrent Power emerges as lowest bidder for power supply contract