Tinsukia: Vehicle owners in Dibrugarh town who want to shift to cleaner fuel will be able to switch to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as Assam Gas Company Ltd (AGCL) is all set to start preliminary work for construction of the CNG station from Thursday.
The CNG station - the first in Assam - will be opened at Chowkidingee in Dibrugarh town. It will have the capacity to fuel 60 to 70 small passenger vehicles in an hour and can handle light vehicles such as cars and autorickshaws.
The managing director of AGCL, Aditya Kumar Sharma, said: "This first CNG station - the master station - will be completely owned and operated by the AGCL and commissioned within next six months providing cheaper fuel. CNG is one-third cheaper in comparison to diesel and petrol prices. For instance, in place of diesel worth Rs 100, one will need to spend CNG of around Rs 66 or 67 to get the same kind of mileage.
"For the success of CNG network, a sufficiently large automobile population is required. Dibrugarh has a comparatively thin automobile population. We are expecting once the CNG station is started, people will come forward to switch to CNG," Sharma said, adding: "Keeping this in mind and also to promote pollution-free fuel, we are going ahead with this move. However, for vehicle owners to begin using CNG, there will have to be retrofitting of kits which will pave the way for local entrepreneurs."
Sharma said: "As the station reaches completion stage, we shall approach the transport department for conversion of autorickshaws from petrol/diesel to CNG. Initially our focus is on Upper Assam as we do not have ample gas to go beyond Jorhat. More CNG stations in Dibrugarh town, Tinsukia, Sivasagar, Jorhat and other main towns of Upper Assam are already in the pipeline." The fuel station coming up at Dibrugarh will have CNG production facility, besides a unit to dispense the fuel.
Dibrugarh MLA Prasanta Phukan said: "I am very grateful that Dibrugarh was chosen for the first ever CNG station of the state. This will reduce pollution level."
