March 13: Bye-bye to standing in queues, welcome piped gas.

The Assam oil division of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) today commissioned the first piped LPG supply system at Alok Apartments in Six Mile.

The executive director of the Assam division of IOC, P.L. Barua, inaugurated the first piped LPG supply system, also known as reticulated LPG system, of the Northeast.

Secretary of Guwahati development department A.K. Bhutani, general manager (marketing) of the Assam division of IOC, J.N. Mahanta and IOC deputy general manager (LPG-strategy) R.N. Ghosh were present at the inauguration.

“It (reticulated LPG supply system) is a method of supplying cooking gas in a vapour form through a pipeline network from a centralised cylinder bank to each kitchen in the residential apartments. The supply gets metered just the way it is being done for water and electricity,” said Ghosh.

Describing it as a lifestyle product, he said apart from providing continuous supply of the cooking gas at the turn of a tap, use of reticulated system means saving time and money.

“The consumers need not call up the distributor, book refills and then wait for the cylinders,” Ghosh added.

In the reticulated system, supply to the hotplate is drawn from a “bank” of cylinders stocked in the ground floor of the complex. It contains two lines of cylinders, one that is in use and another that serves as a standby.

He pointed out another benefit of piped cooking gas, which is its “use and pay” feature. The users need not pay upfront, as they do for the gas cylinders. Instead, the payment is to be made at the end of the billing cycle for only what they have consumed.

Ghosh said space saving is the key advantage of using the system as most of the households now use a double-cylinder connection.

“Since the consumer does not have to keep the cylinders in their home, it will create increased space in their kitchens,” he added. Apart from its use as a cooking fuel conduit, the system could also be used for operating geysers.

The chief LPG manager (sales) of the Assam division of IOC, A.K. Kalita, said piped gas increases safety in the kitchen as the LPG is supplied at a very low pressure. The piped connection also has an in-built safety system, which ensures that the gas supply is shut off in case of leakage or any other eventuality.

“Moreover, there is only vapour in the pipe unlike liquid gas in a cylinder,” Kalita said. He said the expenditure for installing the piped gas system is around Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per apartment depending on the number of apartments and the layout plan of the housing society and the residential complexes.

Kalita said in the country, IOC has commissioned the reticulated system in Pune with 1,000 apartments, Calcutta with 520 apartments, Chennai, Coimbatore, Kochi and Hyderabad.

Subroto Ghosh, general manager (region sales), Eastern Region, IOCL, attended the function and later turned on a gas burner at one of the flats to symbolise the inauguration of the system.

Bhutani said the government would consider whether the reticulated system could be incorporated in the building bylaws.