PNGRB to launch unified portal for new PNG connections

NEW DELHI: Pushing for accelerated adoption of piped gas, the petroleum and gas regulator is soon going to launch a unified portal for people to apply for new PNG connections for their kitchens and commercial and industrial establishments.The portal will help applicants track the status of their requests, while the regulator will ensure that applications are disposed of in a time-bound manner. It will also help authorities keep track of consumers who get PNG connections and urge them to surrender their domestic LPG connections.Officials said the portal is likely to go live on Oct 1, the foundation day of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), along with the launch of PNG Drive 3.0, aimed at expanding the piped gas network to households and commercial and industrial establishments.Currently, consumers seeking a new PNG connection either fill in their details on the individual portal of the city gas distribution (CGD) company operating in their area or call its customer care helpline to place a request.“This portal is going to be a game changer and will accept applications for new connections in all parts of the country. Applications received on our portal will immediately be transferred to the concerned CGD entity for action,” PNGRB chairperson Anil Kumar Jain told TOI.Since the PNG pipeline network has been mapped and hosted on its website, the gas regulator will immediately know whether the network is available in the applicant’s vicinity and accordingly determine the time the CGD entity should take to dispose of the application.Applicants will also have to provide their Aadhaar number while applying for a new PNG connection online. This will help agencies carry out a de-duplication exercise and ensure that consumers do not retain LPG connections. During the West Asia conflict, the petroleum ministry issued a notification stating that consumers with PNG connections would not be allowed to retain domestic LPG connections or take cylinder refills.According to PNGRB, more than 1.7 crore consumers have a PNG network available in their vicinity, but the number of active connections is around 1.2 crore. Officials said nearly 22 lakh LPG consumers can immediately shift to PNG.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.