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Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who attended a SIAM convention for the first time, made some special announcements including plans to set up 10,000 CNG stations in 10 years.
He said at the convention the oil industry will make BS-VI fuel available across India by April 2020. The BS-VI fuel has been made available in the National Capital territory ahead of the deadline already.
“We have provided BS-VI fuel in national capital territory. There would not be any uncertainty from our side. Whatever we have committed, to provide BS-VI fuel by April 1, 2020, we stand by that commitment,” he said.
The 10,000 CNG stations will be put across 300 districts, up from 1,424 filling stations in 73 districts at present, Pradhan said adding that 82 per cent of CNG stations are located in Gujarat, New Delhi and Maharashtra only.
The announcement is a welcome step for companies like Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai Motor India who sell maximum number of CNG vehicles in the country.
Pradhan also said that with CNG being domestically produced, it will not have any impact on the oil imports.
Giving an example, he said a conventional car consumes an average of 750 litres of petrol every year, so it will save a lot on economy apart from being environment-friendly fuel.
Pradhan also asked the auto industry to embrace alternative fuels, such as biofuels, ethanol and methanol saying these had a bright future and should not be considered as “transition fuels”.
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