Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that a gas-based economy is crucial for Atmanirbhar Bharat and work is being done in the direction of ‘One Nation, One Gas Grid’. He inaugurated the Kochi-Mangaluru natural gas pipeline, via video conferencing today. Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister termed this day as an important milestone for both the people of Kerala and Karnataka. “It is an honour to dedicate the 450-km pipeline to the nation. This is an important day for India, especially for people of Karnataka and Kerala. India is focusing on gas-based economy and lot of work is being done on ‘One Nation, One Gas Grid’. The gas-based economy is also crucial for Atmanirbhar Bharat,” said PM Modi at the inauguration.
Governors and Chief Ministers of Karnataka and Kerala, along with Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas were also present during the event.
The Kochi-Mangaluru pipeline will increase the ease of living for millions of people in both states. “The Kochi-Mangaluru pipeline will be the medium of the gas distribution system in cities. It will become a medium for developing CNG-based transport systems in many cities,” he added.
The 450 km long pipeline has been built by GAIL (India) Ltd with a cost of about Rs 3,000 crore. The pipeline will carry natural gas from Kochi in Kerala through Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasargod districts to Mangaluru in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka.
The pipeline will supply environment-friendly and affordable fuel in the form of Piped Natural Gas (PNG) to households and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to the transportation sector. It will also supply Natural Gas to commercial and industrial units across the districts along the pipeline.
While listing the advantages of the pipeline, he said that the pipeline would improve the ease of living in both the states and reduce the expenses of the poor, middle class and entrepreneurs of both the states. “The pipeline would become the base of the Gas Distribution System in many cities and would form the base of the CNG based transport system in these cities. The pipeline would provide clean energy to Mangalore Refinery and would play a major role in reducing the pollution in both the states,” PM said.
He added the reduction of pollution will have a direct impact on the environment which would help in improving people’s health and reducing their health-related expenditure.
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He added that construction of this pipeline has generated 1.2 million man-days of employment and would develop a new ecosystem of employment and self-employment after its commissioning which would help the fertilizer, petrochemical and power sector.
The Prime Minister cited that experts around the world say that in the 21st century, whichever country emphasizes the most on connectivity and clean energy would reach new heights. He stressed that the pace of work in the connectivity front in the country happening now is never seen before in earlier decades. He further said in the 27 years before 2014, only a 15 thousand kilometre natural gas pipeline was built. But right now work is underway on more than 16 thousand kilometres of gas pipeline nationwide which will be complete in the next 5-6 years. He also cited examples of increased CNG fuel stations, PNG connections and LPG connections delivered by this Government which was never seen before.
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