Mysuru MP Pratap Simha on Saturday said that the company entrusted with the task of laying the pipeline for supplying cooking gas directly to homes will repair the roads in the city that will be dug up to lay the pipeline.
Addressing a press conference after party MLAs from Mysuru – S.A. Ramdas representing Krishnaraja constituency and L. Nagendra representing Chamaraja – expressed concern over the damage to the roads due to laying of the pipeline, he said the State Government has already issued orders on the fees and specifications for repair of roads that will be dup up during the project.
The road cutting charges vary based on the roads – cement road, asphalted road, mud road, major district roads etc. The State Government’s order issued in 2020 has fixed ₹1,857 for repair of every metre of road where open trenches had been dug up and ₹700 for every metre of horizontal directional drilling, besides ₹100 per metre as supervision charges in City Corporation limits.
The private company executing the project will not only fill up the trenches the same evening, but will ensure that the roads are fully repaired as per the local body’s technical specifications within one week of digging, Mr. Simha said. He said the task of repair of the roads will not be entrusted to any contractor, but executed by the private company to ensure safety of the gas pipeline.
In Mysuru, a total of 539 km of roads, particularly in Chamaraja segment, is expected to be dug up in the first phase of the project. The areas include Gokulam, Brindavan Extension, Metagalli, Vijayangar, Yadavgiri, Jayalakshmipuram, Paduvarahalli, Gangothri Extension, K.G. Koppal, Janata Nagar, T.K. Layout, Kuvempungar, Lakshmikanthnagar, Machegowdanakoppal, Mahadeshwaranagar, Hebbal, and Kumbarakoppal.
Mr. Simha said the roject, which seeks to bring cooking gas directly to the homes, enjoys several advantages over the present system of supplying LPG in cylinders that include safety and cost factors.
While piped gas, which comes directly to the houses, is Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) that is lighter than LPG that is supplied in cylinders. In the event of a leakage, the LPG tends to explode. But, LNG, which is lighter than air, escapes into the atmosphere without causing any explosion, he claimed.
Also, Mr. Simha claimed that the piped gas comes at cost that is almost 40 to 45 per cent less than LPG. While one 14.2 kg cylinder costs ₹904, an equal quantity of LNG when supplied to houses comes at ₹ 500 to 550.
The other advantages of piped LNG supplied to houses is that the consumers need not book their cylinders and wait. The present LPG cylinders, after reaching the agency, are put in autorickshaw or other vehicles to be delivered to the houses of the consumers. “The delivery man often demands ₹30 to ₹40 as delivery charge. Also, in houses where both the husband and wife works, one of them need to compulsorily stay home on the day of the delivery to receive the cylinder. But, with piped gas one can avoid all these hassles”, Mr. Simha said.
Apart from Mysuru, the piped gas project was being implemented in several parts of the State including Bengaluru, Ramanagaram, Channapatna, Tumakuru, Mandya, Hubbali-Dharwad, Shivamogga, Haveri, Belagavi, Gadag, Kalaburagi, and Chitradurga.
