Patna: The Gas Authority of India limited (GAIL) plan to set up a city gas station at Phulwarisharif in south Patna has hit a roadblock. The high price of the land, which belongs to the Bihar government, has come in the way.

Sharing details with The Telegraph, a GAIL official said: "The state government had agreed to transfer 1.5 acre belonging to the Bihar State Road Transport Corporation (BSRTC) in Phulwarisharif to us. But they have quoted a price tag of Rs 101 crore, which is beyond our budget."

He said given the fact that the facility was being set up for public use, the state government should have put a reasonable price tag.

Officials in the transport department, however, justified the price fixed for the piece of land. "The price has been decided on the basis of minimum value register rates. No premium has been added while deciding the rate in accordance with the rules," said a senior official in the transport department.

He added that the BSRTC was running on a loss of around Rs 2,000 crore and it could not afford to transfer its property to some other agency at a lesser rate. "If any decision on reducing the rate has to be taken, it has to be done at the highest level. We are just following the rules," added the official.

Reached out for comment, transport minister Santosh Nirala said he had no knowledge about the issues related to rate of the land but claimed that he would take up the issue if the matter is brought to his notice. "At present, I can only say that in-principle approval has been given for transferring the land to GAIL. If there are other issues, I would ask officials from my department and those from GAIL to discuss it and find a solution," said the minister.

As far as utility of the city gas station is concerned, GAIL had planned to use it as a mother station to re-fill gas cascades, which could have supplied CNG to those places where pipeline had not been laid.

It wanted to set up a CNG re-filling station on the same land as part of its plan to set up such stations across Patna.

GAIL, however, has kept its Plan B ready. It may set up the city gas station at Naubatpur, where it has procured land. "We may set up the city gas station at Naubatpur and would fit all the required machine at that site. We intend to commence the gas supply from October-November this year," said the GAIL official.