Last Updated on March 18, 2026 4:19 pm by INDIAN AWAAZ
Sudhir Kumar / New Delhi
Amid the ongoing situation in West Asia, the government of India has called for an increase in the allocation of the commercial LPGs from 20 percent to 30 percent in the states. In a letter to Chief Secretaries of all the states and union territories, Secretary in the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry Neeraj Mittal said that the move at this stage will help in the long-term transition from LPG to PNG. The Secretary called for various reforms to reduce LPG consumption in long run, enhance PNG penetration and ensure eligibility to the 10 percent increase in the allocation of commerical LPG.
The reforms include a one percent additional allocation for formation of State and empowered District level committees with local body executive representation for purpose of approval of City Gas Distributors (CGD) applications and resolve grievances. This will be followed by a 2 percent additional allocation for issuing orders to granting deemed CGD permissions to all old applications and to new applications after lapse of 24 hrs of application for laying pipeline or within the said period through the state single window scheme.
Further, a 3 percent additional allocation for introducing a Dig and Restore scheme for CGD entities so as to enable them to dig and restore on their own, eliminate restoration charges and substitute them with a Bank Guarantee up to a maximum of 10 lakh rupees per kilometre and ensure satisfactory restoration of digging or laying of pipelines. Lastly, there will be a 4 percent additional allocation for reducing the annual rental or lease charges for laying or operating the CGD network to zero.