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• Among many baffling things about Indore, the city’s apparent aversion to adopting Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is one. It defies conventional wisdom why the city on a rapid march to metro status is shy of going in for cost-effective, less-polluting alternative fuel.
• Since the CNG was first introduced in the city in September 2009, the first in Madhya Pradesh, barely eight outlets have come up. Contrast this with 15 lakh vehicles - and counting—and one can easily make out that something is terribly amiss. What is that? Most people concerned with the issue—traffic regulators, CNG suppliers, auto rickshaw drivers, experts, environment regulators and administrators are unable to pinpoint exactly what inhibits the Indorean from adopting CNG.
• Paucity of filling stations, of course, is the biggest hurdle. Avantika Gas Limited, the lone supplier of CNG, admits the company is not able to cope with the demand because of complexities involved in expanding its base.“Till now, only eight filling stations are available in the city operated by Aavantika Gas Limited. There are several applications in the pipeline for establishing gas stations across the city but the lengthy process is causing inordinate and avoidable delays,” claimed Pradeep Madan, managing director of the Aavantika Gas Limited.
• A filling station requires clearances from 10 different government departments, he pointed out. That is why too short of filling stations for too many vehicles poses problems.Long queues of auto rickshaws at the CNG stations are order of the day. The short supply often causes commotion at the stations. The hassles at the filling stations dissuade vehicles owners from converting their vehicle as CAG-enabled.
• Madan also admits this fact. “Getting CNG filling is time consuming with limited filling stations often deters private vehicle owners.He is, however, optimistic that the use of CNG will pick up. His optimism stems from the fact that prices of conventional fuel is rising astronomically. He cannot be more right on this count.Last year alone, prices of petroleum products increased at least thrice and the oil companies are awaiting nod from the UPA government for another hike once the polling in the five states is over. Therefore, Madan hopes, more and more people in Indore will get their vehicle fitted with CNG kits.
• Assuring to expand the supply base, Madan told DNA that three new filling stations would come up in the city by the end this financial year.But, will Madan’s company find more dealers in the city for their gas? That is a tricky question. CNG filling station dealers complain that commission in the business is rather low. It acts as a disincentive for potential dealers to apply for fresh station.
• Anil Pawar, one of the co-dealers of the RB filling station, said that his filling station being the only online (which has piped gas supply) also makes things difficult for vehicle owners. This causes delay in supply and, as a result, temper of the customers goes up.“Apart from abrasive behaviour of the commercial vehicle owners, the low commission offered to dealers also deters new dealers establishing gas filling outlets,” Pawar feels.
• A dealer gets 53 paise per kg for selling CNG. This is too low a commission to entice new dealers.The online station attains a pressure of around 200-210 kg per cubic feet which helps fill the tank to its capacity, which is not possible at the stations supplying gas to vehicles, explained Pawar.Another co-dealer of the station, Prashant Belia, said that insufficient pressure at non-online stations results in vehicle tanks getting filled only half of its capacity.Nevertheless, dealers agreed that CNG is the fuel of the future. Being a cheaper option, it is far better from conventional fuel.
• Half as cheap as conventional fuelThe CNG is available at `45 per kg and helps attain a mileage of 25km per kg. It brings down the cost to almost half of the conventional fuel cost of ` 5 to `5.50 per km. The CNG- run vehicles cost `1.5 to 2 per km.Despite obvious advantages of the CNG in terms of cost- effectiveness and environment-friendliness, only around 10,000 vehicles, mostly commercial ones, have switched to the it.Whereas, the pool of around 15 lakh vehicles is registered in the city and around 5 lakh vehicles run in city limits by floating population.Though awareness on cost effectiveness and eco-friendliness of CNG is not a constraint, the limited availability of outlets is a big hindrance for conversion of large number of vehicles from conventional to this cleaner energy source.
• The MP Pollution Control Board (MPPCB) too is pretty concerned about Indore’s marked unwillingness to changeover for the CNG despite awareness about its advantages.The gigantic fleet -15 lakh pollution- emitting vehicles—is a major cause of concern.“The CNG could help a lot in reducing discharge of suspended particles,” asserts Madhy Pradesh Pollution Control Board regional officer AA Mishra. He also feels dismayed at slow progress in public transport vehicles converting to CNG, primarily due to grossly inadequate availability of CNG filling stations.
• Echoing similar sentiments, volunteer working for traffic issues, Prafulla Joshi told DNA that switch over from conventional fuel to CNG is going in right direction. Half of the total 132 city buses, a large number of auto rickshaws and other commercial vehicles are now running on CNG, he claimed.“However”, he also reiterated, “availability of CNG in limited quantity is an issue”. He dismissed this as a misconception that cost of conversion is an inhibiting factor.“One- time cost for converting into CNG system is just Rs 11,000”, he said. RTO, Indore, Pawan Jain also accepted that the limited availability of CNG filling stations is hampering switch over from conventional fuel to CNG.

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