IIA DELEGATION APPRISES JITIN PRASAD OF DISMAL NATURAL GAS SCENARIO IN LUCKNOW

                                                                                                         7-4-10

IIA delegation Apprises  Jitin Prasad of Dismal Natural Gas Scenario in Lucknow

Shri Anil Gupta, President, IIA, Shri G.C.Chaturvedi, Former President, IIA and Shri Mukesh Tandon,Chairman,Direct taxes,IIA met the Minister of State for  Petroleum and Natural Gas, Govt. of India,Shri Jitin Prasad, who was in Lucknow today, to apprise him of the adverse scenario of  Natural Gas availability for industries in Lucknow.

IIA’s representation to the Minister held that Green Gas Ltd, Lucknow -  a joint venture of GAIL and IOCL - was set up with the specific objective of arranging  supplies for Automobile; Domestic; Commercial and Industrial consumers. It has a total allocation of 100000 SCMD (Standard Cubic Metres Per Day ) of Gas from GAIL  out of which 30000 SCMD has been allocated for industrial  use.

During the past more than four years , GREEN GAS LTD has set up its network -  that too highly unsatisfactory - to cater only to automobile sector and no other consumer has, till date, benefited from availability of natural gas in Lucknow. There has been an allocation of 100,000 SCM per day from GAIL to GREEN GAS LTD and, since the stand alone demand for automobile sector in Lucknow has been < 100,000 SCM per day, there has been huge unutilized allocation of Natural Gas with GREEN GAS LTD since 2006.

Shri Anil Gupta, President, IIA informed that  Indian Industries Association (IIA) which is an apex representative body of MSME, has Energy conservation, use of clean energy and environmental protection activities as our top priorities. Therefore, we are promoting the use of Natural Gas by more and more industries.He further informed, that IIA has been regularly following up the cause of supply of Gas to industry as this would  help bring down the use of fossil fuels ( like FO/LDO ) and result in environment protection besides other resultant advantages. It will also save valuable foreign exchange that is used to import fossil fuels currently in use by industry.

After repeated follow up and insistence of IIA, an agreement was signed between IIA and GREEN GAS LTD on 15th Oct 2008 for augmenting the supplies of Gas to industrial consumers. GREEN GAS LTD had indicated that, to begin with, it would be able to meet the requirement of industries located in Amausi and Sarojininagar Industrial area only. Consequent to this agreement, a few industries have even signed  agreements  with GREEN GAS LTD for supply of PNG in July/Aug 2009.
“However, things seem to be moving at snails pace with GREEN GAS LTD and till today, i.e. nearly after 15 months of signing the agreement, no concrete measures have been taken and there are no indications from GREEN GAS LTD as to what are its  plan to start the supplies,” reflects  Mr.G.C.Chaturvedi, Former President, IIA.

Very interestingly, GREEN GAS LTD has been incurring financial losses as it has set up full infrastructure in place including lavish office equipped with full staff and other support services at one of the most elite addresses in state capital but has been reluctant to supply its product to industry, preferring its allocation to lapse. It is a gross misuse of public funds in running a company which is not bothered about its bottom line.

The irony of the situation is that the GREEN GAS LTD has availability product to sell and ready customers who have already signed agreements but it is choosing to be a burden on its promoters( Ultimately the Government ) by incurring continuous losses and not bothering to earn its own profits.

Shri Mukesh Tandon,Chairman,Direct taxes,IIA  remarked,  “ the basic reason for incorporation of GREEN GAS LTD seems to have been defeated as it has failed to utilize the allocated quantity of gas in spite of customer willingness.”

“Hence we were  compelled to approach  the Minister  with the request that GREEN GAS LTD may be advised to arrange the supply of Natural Gas to Industries in Lucknow without further delay. We have also requested him to fix accountability for the lapses and resultant financial losses,.” Shri Anil Gupta, President, IIA said.

Shri Jitin Prasad, Minister of State for  Petroleum and Natural Gas, Govt. of India, listened to the representation of IIA & assured to look into the matter at the earliest.

D.S. Verma
Executive Director