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GAIL has invested over Rs 350 crore for creating CGD infrastructure in Varanasi and another Rs 100 crore will be spent by 2024
Varanasi, India : In a significant step towards a pollution-free Varanasi, the city’s second floating Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Mobile Refueling Unit (MRU) station at Ravidas Ghat was inaugurated on November 26, 2023, by Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Housing and Urban Affairs Shri Hardeep Singh Puri.
The station, developed by GAIL (India) Limited, a Maharatna PSU under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, has a capacity of 4,000 kg/day, which can cater to 300 to 400 boats per day.
The decision to set-up this floating CNG station is a testament to our belief in the transformative power of clean energy,” said Shri Puri.
He also noted that the new station will provide great convenience to boatmen as they will not have to go all the way to NaMo Ghat for refueling, thus saving time and money. “On an average, it is estimated that each boatman can potentially save over Rs.36,000 per year by using CNG as fuel,” said the Minister.
CNG is a cleaner and more efficient fuel than diesel, and it leads to significant savings for boatmen. It also produces less smoke from exhaust and is almost odorless, providing health benefits and comfort to boatmen and tourists while decreasing pollution in the holy river Ganga and atmosphere.
GAIL has invested over Rs 350 crore for creating CGD infrastructure in Varanasi and another Rs 100 crore will be spent by 2024. The Varanasi CGD project is part of the prestigious Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga project and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in 2018.
In addition to these two floating CNG stations, GAIL also operates 24 CNG stations and another 13 CNG stations work is in progress for supplying the environment-friendly fuel to more than 8,000 four-wheelers, 17,000 three-wheelers and around 100 buses. GAIL is also providing piped natural gas (D-PNG) to over 32,000 households, 61 commercial units like hotels and restaurants and 13 industrial units. PNG connectivity to another 40,000 households is in progress.
