Agartala, Oct. 10 (PTI): An ONGC project for extraction of natural gas at Trishna in South Tripura would be operational by March 2019, a company official said here today.

"We found gas in Trishna about 12 years ago. Now, we are waiting for clearance from the ministries concerned. We would make the project operational by 2019, though the target was fixed for 2022," executive director and asset manager of the Tripura unit, Gautam Kumar Singha Roy, told reporters.

He said as the fields are within Trishna wildlife sanctuary, the environment and forest clearance got delayed.

The ONGC is taking steps to increase production of natural gas in the state. "We need to double our production for supply of gas to our proposed fertilizer plant in North Tripura and existing thermal power projects in the state," he said.