Bengal Gas Company Limited, a joint venture of GAIL (India) Limited and Bengal’s Greater Calcutta Gas Supply Corporation Limited, hopes piped gas will reach New Town by March 2026.
Bengal Gas has the mandate to develop the city gas distribution network in Calcutta and adjoining districts of North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia catering to domestic, transport, industrial and commercial sectors.
The national gas grid, which connects Bengal with the rest of the country, has already reached Gayeshpur, near Kalyani, around 40 kilometres from Rajarhat.
Anupam Mukhopadhyay, CEO, Bengal Gas Company, said from Gayeshpur onwards, it’s the company’s job to build the rest of the infrastructure and bring piped gas to Calcutta.
“A city gate station is under construction and is expected to be completed by March. We will be able to charge our pipeline at that point,” Mukhopadhyay said. Just like substations manage the voltages for the supply of electricity, the city gate station will look to regulate the pressure of supplied gas.
Mukhopadhyay said the pipeline has been laid in patches and two major stretches — along Kalyani Expressway to Barrackpore and Barasat to Airport — are yet to be covered.
“We are laying a pipeline along Kalyani Expressway and we are looking to reach up to Barrackpore. It could take at least six months. We can do it quickly but we need permission from the West Bengal Highway Development Corporation. From there onwards to Barasat, the pipeline is already laid. The pending patches are along the Kalyani Expressway and from Barasat to the Airport. Once permissions are made available, we hope gas will reach New Town in a year,” Mukhopadhyay said.
Bengal Gas is operating 15 CNG stations in and around Calcutta and has laid 118 km of steel pipeline and about 330 km of MDPE pipeline within KMDA and Hidco area. The project involves laying a pipeline of a total of 795km at an investment of ₹5,322 crore.