'Open access is here to stay!' says PNGRB
Despite legal challenges, the PNGRB is adamant that it will follow through with a March 4 (2024) order ending the gas marketing infrastructure exclusivity of two gas retailers.
PNGRB chairman and former oil ministry bureaucrat Anil Kumar Jain made this clear at the first national meeting of CGD and pipeline operators held in Vizag on April 5 and 6 (2024). "Open access (of CGD areas) will be done," Jain is reported to have said during his keynote address on April 5 at the Radisson Blu seaside hotel.
"There is no doubt about that." On March 4 (2024), a PNGRB public notice said the "infrastructure exclusivity period for the laying, building or expansion of the CGD network has expired" for Mahanagar Gas (MGL) in Mumbai and Greater Mumbai and for Vadodara Gas in Gujarat's Vadodara city.
In the order, the PNGRB stresses that MGL's authorisation expired on April 11 (2021), more than 12 years after it was granted on January 21 (2009). Vadodara Gas's authorisation ended on March 31 (2023), more than six years after it was granted on October 27 (2016).
In addition, the PNGRB stresses that no infrastructure exclusivity was ever granted to Assam Gas Company on February 6 (2015) for Upper Assam or to Tripura Natural Gas Company on February 24 (2015) for Agartala City. MGL has challenged the PNGRB move in the Delhi High Court but is open to settling the matter amicably, according to news reports.
Jain said the purpose of the Vizag CGD and pipeline meeting was to "reach out" to industry. Open access will stay, but if any CGD company is adversely affected, the PNGRB "will find a solution," he stressed.
"We have been entrusted with duties and responsibilities towards customers," said Jain. He assured CGD operators that their concerns would be resolved with an open mind.
Jain also called on CGD and pipeline operators to express their views at the meeting, where no minutes were recorded. Following the tea break, the programme was divided into seven sessions: three on the first day and four on the second.