Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 27: Chairperson FADA Jammu Sanjay Aggarwal along with Sanjay Mahajan, Regional Director FADA Jammu met Amit Arya, Senior Manager IOCL to discuss CNG Infrastructure and future plan of IOCL.
Aggarwal suggested the need to open more CNG outlets in J&K to cater the need of automobile consumers, as on date only 2 CNG stations are available in Jammu region, one in Jammu city and other in Samba. Arya shared that the Indian Oil has been authorized to set up City Gas Distribution project in Kathua, Samba, Udhampur, Reasi and Jammu (Jammu GA) in J&K vide 11th round CGD bidding.
He said that in view of non availability of pipeline presently IOCL has started CNG station in Jammu GA by seeding gas from Amritsar through Cascades mounted on MVC. He further informed one more CNG station is planned in Jammu city by August 2025 and other one in Kathua by October 2025. More number of CNG stations shall be planned in coming years depending upon the scenario in Jammu GA and GAIL trunk pipeline connectivity, he added.
Aggarwal raised the issue of VAT in J&K which is currently 21% and highest in the country. He said that the VAT on Natural Gas in the adjacent state of Punjab is only 3.3% and Himachal Pradesh is only 4%, VAT in Delhi is 0%, Chandigarh 5% and in Haryana it is 6.3%. He suggested taking up this issue of VAT with J&K Government, so that the people of J&K can also avail benefits of CNG at cheaper price.
He informed that various OEM like Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, and Tata are in process of getting approval for commercial sale of CNG vehicle to make it available for the consumers in J&K. With the availability of more CNG stations in J&K the sale of CNG vehicles will get a new start and will benefit the people of J&K in long run.
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