# Cities

City Beautiful awaits more CNG stations

Days after two Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations were opened in Chandigarh, the 'City Beautiful' will have to wait longer…

Shalini Sharma | Chandigarh | February 14, 2017 8:03 am

Days after two Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations were opened in Chandigarh, the 'City Beautiful' will have to wait longer for more such stations as the proposal for the same has hit a bumpy road.

The approval for opening three more Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations in Chandigarh is pending for about 20 months now as the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is yet to receive 'Go ahead' for it from the administration.

Three CNG stations waiting for a 'Go ahead' have been approved by the Petroleum and Explosive Safety Organisation (PESO).

The IOC claims to have submitted the request for the no objection certificate (NOC) to the Union Territory (UT) Administration on 1 June, 2015. But the state sector oil company is still waiting for a 'Go ahead' from the administration for 20 months now.

“It is because of the inefficiency of the UT Administration that the people of Chandigarh have to wait for the CNG pumps,” an IOC official said.

On the other side, the Chandigarh administration has a different take. The sources in the administration said that issuing a NOC is not the work of a solo department, but is that of eight to ten departments put together. Therefore, it is taking time, sources said.

UT administrator V P Singh Badnore has made his point straight many a time to the OIC officials who are awaiting for the nod from the administration that he wants five CNG pumps in the city promptly.

He said he does not want to see the queues outside any CNG station, therefore the facilities should be apt.

In November last year, Chandigarh got its first CNG station and the second one was opened in Mohali, situated next to Chandigarh. While inaugurating it the Union minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas,Dharmendra Pradhan, had asked to set 30 CNG stations within 2 years in the city.