Reticulated gas supply in India

 Hi friends,

Disclaimer: My article may not be highly factual. 

      A wonderful new year to all of you.  This time, i would like to write a few words on the fairly new way of supplying cooking gas to the Indian households which is piped gas supply.  When my parents grew up in the post independence era, their families had to be content with laborious cooking on firewood or coal based hearths and kitchens which were blackened by the persistent smoke from the firewood. Slowly, the households in the cities started to use  the single burner, portable kerosene stoves. I am not fully clear about the expenses for these kerosene stoves, but we used to keep one kerosene stove, for which we used to buy kerosene from the ration shops. I still have the smell of the ' infamous kerosene ' in my nostrils when I write this here. 'Infamous ' because it is/or was the favourite fuel in the Indian movies to self immolate or pour on an unfortunate soul to burn them!! Maintaining a kerosene stove and refilling it required a knack, and it needed to be attended all the time to avoid dangers. There used to be a valve or a knob  on one side which was pressed up and down to bring up  those bunches of wicks using the kerosene.  The vessels used for cooking will be blackened,  and cleaning is a task which cannot be imagined these days. 

                  My parents were the 1st and proud owners to book the LPG connection and own a gas stove when they were newly married and living in a small neighborhood in Trivandrum. The other neighbours followed the suit. The gas stoves of those days had heavy bodies and the knobs were tight and one needs to have minimum strength to handle those knobs. The kerosene stove was still used for heating water, for deep frying snacks, and also as a standby in case the cylinder gets over. Happy days were when the 2nd cylinder was delivered within a day or 2 of booking. 

          In USA, where I stayed for a few years after my wedding, the gas stove which included the conventional oven, was connected by electric power supply. Unlike in India, there will always be uninterrupted power supply at all times, except in case of cyclones or tornadoes. If power breaks down there, the life comes to a total standstill. 

                When we shifted back to Bangalore few years back, our complex had newly introduced piped gas system or reticulated gas system. This was a/ and is still a new concept of supplying cooking gas to the Indian households in a more efficient way freeing lot of hassles. This facility is confined to newer and upcoming apartment societies. There will be gas banks in which a group of cylinders are placed near the walls , where they are attached to the pipes fixed on the walls. Through a series of gas pipes fixed from the basement to the individual apartments,  the high pressure gas is regulated so that just enough fuel is circulated through the pipes.  Just like a water meter,  gas meter is fixed in a house for reading. For more technicalities and information,  Google for reticulated gas supply and Mygate provides more accurate information. This eliminates so many hassles like keeping a full cylinder, booking for the next one, waiting for the person from the agency to deliver,  switching on or off when not in use, changing the heavy cylinders each time which if not fixed properly can be a cause for the gas leak! I have been using the reticulated gas supply for some years and the convenience that comes with it is huge for not much of a cost difference. 

                                                 The gas banks in our complex

                               Why is it confined to apartment societies?

            As of 2019 census,  only more than 50 lakh households are availing this option. In our country of 1.3 billion people, many of the rural households are yet to have a single LPG connection and  use firewood for cooking. Our honourable Prime minister had announced to the 'rich and affordable' to 'surrender ' the 2nd connection so that a poor household can cook without using firewood. But in reality,  the agents do not go to these less accessible rural areas to supply cylinders and hence refill cylinders fail to be supplied. Humans are slow in adapting to change. So in rural areas, families may keep cylinders aside and use firewood hearths,  and in cities some families refuse to give up LPG cylinder connection for a change over citing cost variation. Also, to supply fuel through pipes to independent homes is an extensive task requiring innumerable common gas banks and digging up all over the areas for the installation of pipes. Though this will take a long time, Gas Authority of India is working with private companies like Reliance to realize the dream and move our country much forward. 

Thanks,

Deepa.