Pune: Maharashtra Natural Gas Limited (MNGL), which provides CNG and piped natural gas (PNG) to customers on Wednesday said the PNG infrastructure has reached to about 9 lakh households in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad.Of 9 lakh households, around 5 lakh home owners have activated their connections but 4 lakh owners are yet to complete the activation process. MNGL has appealed to all the homeowners who are yet to finish the activation of PNG. Special drive has been taken up till end of Sept to activate the connections, officials from MNGL said.MNGL has also approached the housing societies to make sure that all PNG connections in all the flats are activated at earliest. Around 6,500 housing societies in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad are reached with PNG infrastructure. Officials said, “The connections have reached outside every flat. The role of flat owners is now crucial to activate the connection. We have put the boards outside the housing societies appealing the flat owners to come forward to finish the process. It is important to complete the process before Oct 1,” officials said.MNGL said that PNG connections are expanding aggressively across Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad though there are some problems in increasing penetration in the city’s core peth areas. The daily activation of new PNG connections has increased significantly in the last six months post Iran-US war. At least 400 new connections are getting ready on a daily basis. MNGL in last eight months (Jan to Aug) has readied infrastructure for over 95,000 PNG connections in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad.49 CNG refilling stations in pipelineTo provide CNG outlet for vehicles, MNGL is looking ahead to commence 49 new refilling stations in next few months. In addition to these, the talks are underway to operationalise more refilling units at the petrol pumps. Around 133 refilling points are operational in the city at present, 100 more points are expected to be added soon.Expect improvement in CNG supply in next two weeksMNGL officials said the supply at existing CNG stations is expected to be improved in next two weeks. A plan to increase the capacity of a unit at Talegaon is in the last stages. By mid-Sept, all existing stations are expected to receive the CNG supply at more pressure. This will help reduce long queues of autos and cars at refilling points.
