Indraprastha Gas Limited
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History
1998- 2023
Atul Mathur, Dec 23, 2023: The Times of India
From: Atul Mathur, Dec 23, 2023: The Times of India
25 Yrs Of Ensuring Delhi Never Runs Out Of Gas
TOI Traces IGL’s Success Story In Providing Cleaner Fuel For Vehicles & Piped Gas For Homes, But Some Challenges Remain
New Delhi : When the world moved into the 21st century, Delhi government had ahead of it a mountain of challenges. Critical of the city’s deteriorating air quality, the Supreme Court had, in 1998, directed the conversion of public transport to CNG, considered a cleaner fuel, and the then Congress government was running against time to retrofit the huge diesel fleet of Delhi Transport Corporation, private transport vehicles, autorickshaws and taxis to natural gas. Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL), the agency entrusted with the responsibility of developing a CNG distribution network across the city, itself was under tremendous pressure to deliver.
By 2003, approximately 1.5 lakh vehicles, including DTC, stage-carriage and contractual buses, autos, cabs, even private cars, had made the switch to CNG. IGL managed to set up 107 filling stations strategically dispersed across the capital. “But these proved insufficient,” recalled Pawan Kumar, director (commercial), IGL. “In the initial years, there were frequent complaints about unending queues at filling stations and low pressure that increased the time required to fill a tank.” To quell the regular skirmishes among exasperated drivers, the then Union petroleum minister Ram Naik and chief minister Sheila Dikshit both made the rounds of CNG filling stations and directed IGL to improve its functioning. “We imported compressors from Argentina to enhance the dispensing facilities,” said Kumar. “We maintained communication with the government to secure land for new filling stations and also deployed marshals for queue management.”
Over the years, IGL expanded its network to meet the demand. While it caters to 11.7 lakh CNG cars in Delhi alone, such vehicles in cities under its distribution network exceed 18 lakh. There still are queues at the 479 filling stations in the city, but considerably shorter ones. IGL now has mo re than 800 stations overall.
Founded in 1998, the primary objective in setting up IGL as manager of a distribution network for natural gas catering to automotive, domestic, commercial and industrial users was to combat the escalating air pollution in Delhi, exacerbated by emissions from dieselpowered vehicles and industrial facilities. In just two months of its formation, it made strides into a system previously managed by the Gas Authority of India Limited comprising nine CNG filling stations and 1,500 PNG connections. IGL operates a network of filling stations in Delhi and the adjacent cities of Noida, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Meerut and some other locations nationwide. While industries in Delhi now exclusively rely on piped natural gas (PNG) and most planned residential colonies have seamlessly adopted piped gas, IGL is now broadening its reach into villages and the informal colonies.
Over its 25-year journey, the company not only facilitated the transition of public transportation to the more environmentally friendly fuel, but also revolutionised kitchens by providing piped gas to households in most parts of the city. It combated scepticism surrounding the safety of natural gas by running campaigns to assure the public that CNG and PNG were secure.
Initially, the switch to the cleaner fuel meant installing government-approved, imported kits in cars. The lower cost and superior fuel economy of CNG relative to petrol and diesel made the gas popular among the middle class. Maruti introduced five models of CNG cars in 2010, a number that has grown to over 100 models of various automobile manufacturers. Kumar stated that 15,000-17,000 new CNG cars are added to the system every month in areas where IGL operates. Remarkably, every fourth vehicle — private and commercial combined — registered in Delhi now runs on CNG.
Simultaneously, due to the sheer convenience of not having to book gas cylinders and wait for delivery, people adopted piped gas for their kitchens. IGL now enters into agreements with builders to ex tend pipelines to each flat at the construction stage.
More than 16 lakh households in the capital now have PNG connections, while the number exceeds 25 lakh if commercial establishments and industries are considered.
IGL managing director Kamal Kishore Chatiwal admitted that despite the lowered waiting time at filling stations, the queues remain an issue. “We know we need to augment our compression and dispensation capacity to address this issue. Our goal is to achieve a queueless operation,” Chatiwal asserted. “To this purpose, we are establishing new filling stations, adding more dispensers and leveraging technology to reduce queues. Unlike earlier when IGL operated dispensing facilities at certain petrol pumps, we are now appointing dealers to run CNG stations known as dealer-owned-dealeroperated outlets. The dealers possess the land, obtain the mandatory approvals and we set up the machinery and dispensers.” IGL will invite applications to set up 170-180 such stations in Delhi and NCR towns.
At several filling stations, IGL has relocated compressors, which consume substantial space, to the first floor of office buildings, maximising the free area by installing more dispensers.
The company is also collaborating with a technology provider, which has mapped all filling stations on an application, obtaining real-time CCTV feeds and data on private cars, taxis, autos and buses. This data is used to determine approximate waiting times at each location. “Through IGL’s Connect app, a CNG user can view waiting times at all stations within a 5km radius and choose the one with the least crowding,” Kumar said.
IGL officials said their current focus was on extending services to villages and pockets in the Walled City. The company recently inaugurated its first PNG facility in Qutabgarh village. “Laying pipelines in narrow lanes, despite requests, remains a challenge,” said Kumar.
IGL has now diversified into electric mobility and established around 40 e-charging stations
