India would soon have a green corridor wherein vehicles can opt to run on natural gas, said GAIL (India) Chairman and Managing Director B.C. Tripathi.

This green highway from Jalandhar-Ludhiana to Bangalore will provide opportunities to inland transportation to operate on natural gas vehicles by expanding the reach of compressed natural gas (CNG) beyond cities. This corridor will benefit eight States — Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana and Punjab.

“If you look at the transport system, more than 97-98 per cent is dependent on liquid fuel across the world. In India, the consumption of natural gas-based fuel is miniscule compared with liquid fuel. Therefore, this is the sector where there is tremendous scope,” Tripathi said at the curtain raiser of ANGVA 2013 conference.

The green corridor will have a pump offering CNG every 250 km. At present, it exists from Delhi to Agra and further to Mathura.

Operational LNG re-gasification terminals at Hazira, Dahej, Dhabol and Kochi, along with operational transportation pipeline network is paving way to fuel the Natural Gas Vehicles vehicles through a pool of domestic and imported gas.

>siddhartha.s@thehindu.co.in

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