Bhubaneswar: The housing and urban development department has mooted a plan to replace public vehicles running on diesel with those run on CNG in the twin cities in an attempt to put in cost effective measures and save the environment.

GAIL India put a proposal before the government outlining the benefits of CNG for public transport during a meeting about its ongoing piped-gas network project in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.

"We received a proposal from GAIL and forwarded it to the commerce and transport department. The officials will coordinate and look after the modalities of introducing CNG as fuel for city buses in the twin cities on a pilot basis," said a housing and urban development official.

In its proposal, GAIL stated that it planned to connect 2.50 lakh domestic and around 3.2 lakh vehicular CNG consumers, besides the commercial and industrial ones, in and around the twin cities. The company has already laid a 3.5km pipeline and got 250 consumers.

Among the benefits GAIL outlined for using CNG instead of diesel in buses was the low cost. The running cost per square kilometre is Rs 22.32 for the CNG, while it is Rs 26.51 for diesel. In the proposal, GAIL suggested that the government, instead of procuring diesel buses, opt for CNG-powered ones, to reduce pollution levels.

GAIL has also asked for government support to provide space for the CNG dispensing stations at bus depots in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, encourage registration of CNG vehicles in the commercial sector and issue advisory notes to various government institutions for converting their vehicles to the CNG in order to create a CNG infrastructure.

Environmentalist Sailabala Padhi said the CNG helped reduce pollution levels, and it would be a milestone for the state if the government introduced it for the public transport. "A number of other cities, including New Delhi, opted for CNG-run vehicles and considerably reduced pollution levels," said Padhi.

GAIL is executing the City Gas Distribution Network project in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack to provide clean cooking fuel at the doorstep with two CNG stations each in the two cities.

Bhubaneswar Puri Transport Services Limited operates about 100 diesel-run city buses in and around Bhubaneswar. The government plans to increase the fleet to about 300 by September.

Mayor Ananta Naryan Jena said the government was already taking steps to improvise the city bus service here. "We are making efforts to connect the city and its neighbouring areas, including Cuttack, Puri and Konark, in the network and will look for other provisions to ensure quality in the service," said the mayor, who is also chairperson of Bhubaneswar Puri Transport Services Limited.