Saket Lal
Port Blair, Feb 07: In Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 62 percentage of the LPG customers have registered for Direct Benefit Transfer scheme called PAHAL so far. Informing this in a press meet held in Port Blair, in presence of Member of Parliament Mr Bishnu Pada Ray on Saturday, Mr YK Gupta, Executive Director, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Kolkata, appealed that those who have not yet joined but desirous of getting the subsidy should register their bank account details with the LPG dealers and gas connection particulars with their banks at the earliest in the prescribed forms as the grace period for registration for the scheme is only three months. Those who have Aadhar card can seed it and others can use separate form for registering for the subsidy.
The public sector IOC is planning to roll out petrol, diesel and other petroleum products that conform to the Euro-4 standards by 1st April next year in the Islands. The Union Territory would be the only area other than the metropolitan cities where it is being planned to introduce the clean fuel in the first phase, Mr Gupta said.
The lone oil major operating in the Islands, is also making efforts to double its LPG bottling capacity in Port Blair to 14 lakh cylinders per annum as against the present capacity of 7 lakh cylinders. Though the current consumption is about 5 lakh cylinders, to keep pace with the growing need, the capacity expansion is being worked out. The required land for the project would be 0.72 hectares, he added.
Four more LPG dealership outlets would be established in Aberdeen Bazaar, Bhathubasti, Mayabunder and Ranghat. 5kg cylinders would be made available depending upon consumer preferences.At present, Below Poverty Line families and Antyodaya beneficiaries are being given gas connections without any deposits, he noted.
A new oil terminal in Hope Town, Port Blair at a cost of 250 crore rupees is another major project being envisaged for Andaman and Nicobar Islands to meet the need for the next 30 years. Mr Gupta informed that in the next financial year, 11 more petrol pumps would be operational in places like Mayabunder, School Line, Lamba Line, Chouldari, Garacharma, Ferrargunj, Manglutan, Guptapara, Wandoor, Prothrapur and Sippighat. The new and existing petrol pumps would be automated for effective monitoring to ensure transparency, he said. (PIB).
