Piped natural gas usage suggested

Rajamahendravaram: The East Godavari district administration has directed officials to expedite the expansion of piped natural gas supply across the district to cater to the needs of domestic, commercial, and industrial sectors.

At a review meeting held at the Collectorate on Tuesday, joint collector Y Megha Swaroop instructed the officials to ensure the speedy completion of pipeline network works and provide uninterrupted and safe gas supply to households. The meeting was organised by the Civil Supplies Department with participation from representatives of Godavari Gas Private Limited and members of the Hotels and Restaurants Association.

The joint collector stressed the need for close coordination with all concerned agencies to avoid delays in pipeline laying, grant of connections and other field-level issues. He directed officials to resolve bottlenecks promptly and ensure that households where pipelines are already laid are provided connections without insisting on installation charges.

Commercial establishments, including hotels and industries, were asked to mandatorily shift to piped gas usage. He also announced that a district-level committee would be formed to monitor pipeline expansion, connection approvals, road permissions and related infrastructure on a regular basis. Officials were asked to create awareness among the public to encourage adoption of piped gas.

District Civil Supplies Officer V Parvathi said the State government is promoting the use of piped gas and steps are being taken to extend LPG subsidy benefits to piped gas consumers as well. She stressed the need to conduct awareness programmes at mandal and secretariat levels and assured full support from the district administration in granting permissions and facilitating infrastructure.

Godavari Gas Private Limited representative Srikant said the company aims to provide safe and continuous gas supply to households. He stated that a security deposit of Rs 6,500 is required for domestic connections, of which Rs 5,000 is refundable. The domestic gas tariff has been fixed at Rs 55 per cubic metre with bi-monthly billing. For commercial users, the tariff is Rs 75 per cubic metre with billing every 15 days. The deposit for commercial connections ranges from Rs 25,000 to Rs 1 lakh. He said the company would take up awareness campaigns in apartment complexes and door-to-door outreach to speed up connections.

Officials informed that work is underway to provide 1.15 lakh household connections across the combined East and West Godavari districts.

Around 19,000 connections have already been provided in East Godavari district. With infrastructure largely in place in the Rajamahendravaram region, more connections are expected to be issued soon. In Kovvur town, about 700 households have already been covered under the piped gas network.