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NEW DELHI : The Petroleum Ministry has asked states and Union Territories to provide district-level administrative support to accelerate the shift of households from LPG to piped natural gas (PNG), seeking appointment of nodal officers to coordinate with gas distributors and oil marketing companies.
In an August 21 letter to state chief secretaries, Petroleum Secretary Neeraj Mittal said PNG, as a safer, cleaner and more efficient cooking fuel, has an important role in advancing India’s energy transition while reducing the logistics burden associated with LPG distribution and improving consumer convenience.
“PNG brings a safer, cleaner and more efficient cooking fuel, playing a critical role in advancing the country’s energy transition objectives. Its accelerated adoption contributes to reducing the logistics burden associated with LPG distribution, enhancing consumer convenience, and improving utilisation of CGD infrastructure created through substantial public and private investment,” Mittal said in the letter.
The push for faster adoption of gas piped to households for cooking purposes, called PNG, follows the disruption to India’s LPG supply chains during the West Asia crisis earlier this year. LPG was among the fuels most exposed to the conflict because India imports a large share of its cooking-gas requirement, with much of those supplies coming from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait and moving through the Strait of Hormuz.
The disruption forced the government to prioritise domestic LPG supplies, with commercial and industrial consumers facing restrictions before supplies were progressively restored. India has since moved to diversify its LPG sourcing, including higher purchases from the US and Algeria, as it seeks to reduce its exposure to disruptions in Middle Eastern supplies.
Domestic PNG supplies received priority allocation of domestically produced natural gas, insulating the segment from much of the disruption that affected imported LPG and LNG cargoes.
While industrial and commercial gas users with greater dependence on imported LNG faced some exposure, domestic PNG and CNG supplies were expected to remain largely unaffected.
The experience has strengthened the case for expanding city-gas infrastructure and shifting households towards piped cooking fuel as part of a broader strategy to reduce India’s dependence on imported LPG and make the country’s energy system more resilient to geopolitical and shipping disruptions.
To promote faster PNG adoption, the government has notified the Natural Gas and Petroleum Products Distribution (Through Laying, Building, Operation and Expansion of Pipelines and Other Facilities) Orders of 2026 and LPG Control Orders under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.
The orders prohibit households from retaining simultaneous LPG and PNG connections and provide for discontinuation of LPG supply to households that fail to apply for a PNG connection despite due notice, wherever PNG supply is available, Mittal said in the letter.
The ministry has directed authorised city gas distribution (CGD) entities and public-sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) to establish a PNG Coordination Committee (PCC) in every geographical area.
The committees will identify eligible housing societies and households, issue statutory notices to housing societies, resident welfare associations and individual consumers, and conduct outreach camps to accelerate PNG connections.
The ministry said the PCC mechanism is already operational but its experience so far shows that district-level administrative support is crucial for implementing the transition within prescribed timelines.
The district administration will be expected to help secure right of way or right of use from RWAs and housing societies, facilitate the transition between LPG distributors and CGD entities, support consumer outreach and verification, and resolve consumer grievances.
It will also monitor PNG adoption in notified areas and, where required, enable designated officers to exercise powers under the control orders when access to non-public areas is refused.
The ministry said officials of the Department of Food and Civil Supplies are best placed to provide this support because of their existing regulatory interface with LPG distributors and their field-level administrative reach.
Mittal has, therefore, asked chief secretaries to direct their respective food and civil supplies departments to nominate one nodal officer at the district level, not below the rank of district supply officer, to be formally associated with the local PCC.
States and UTs have also been asked to provide the names, designations and contact details of the nominated officers at the earliest so that PCC members can coordinate with them and expedite PNG expansion.
The ministry asked states to accord priority to the matter, citing the government’s commitment to expanding PNG adoption in a time-bound manner.
The push comes as India seeks to expand its city gas distribution network and shift more household cooking demand towards piped natural gas, potentially reducing the need to transport LPG cylinders over long distances and making greater use of infrastructure created through public and private investment. (PTI)
