New Delhi, April 17: A high-level government committee, supported by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), has recommended removing excise duty on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to lower prices and promote consumption of the green fuel to meet India’s target of achieving a 15 per cent share of natural gas in the fuel mix by 2030.

The key recommendations include removing the 14 per cent excise duty to make CNG a more attractive fuel option and also lowering GST on CNG vehicles to 5 per cent to bring them on par with electric vehicles to accelerate adoption.

The recommendations favour maintaining a competitive price difference between CNG and petrol so that consumers are encouraged to switch to the green fuel.

The tax relief on natural gas is anticipated to impact roughly 1.9 crore households and 38.41 lakh potential users.

These proposals aim to address the currently high taxes, such as the 14 per cent excise duty and state VAT, which have made CNG less competitive in certain regions, particularly in the southern states.

Meanwhile, the government has also been encouraging households to switch to piped natural gas (PNG) from LPG as the West Asia crisis has disrupted supply chains. The expansion of piped natural gas (PNG) has gained momentum, with about 4.58 lakh new PNG connections being gasified and about 5.1 lakh additional customers registering for new connections since March this year.

Till April 15, about 35,000 PNG consumers have surrendered their LPG connections via MYPNGD.in website. States have been advised to facilitate new PNG connections for domestic and commercial consumers.

The government is encouraging natural gas adoption through synergy between the PNGRB and states as part of India’s transition toward a cleaner and more sustainable energy future. As part of the strategy to increase the share of natural gas in the country’s energy mix, the expansion of the City Gas Distribution (CGD) network through Piped Natural Gas (PNG) connections has emerged as one of the key performing areas.

Spearheaded by entities authorised by the PNGRB, the CGD network now spans 307 geographical areas (GAs), covering nearly 100 per cent of the country’s geographical area except islands, touching around 784 districts across 34 states and Union Territories. The government has undertaken a series of policy and regulatory measures to catalyse growth in this sector.

These measures range from allocating administered price domestic gas and easing supply mechanisms to mandating PNG provisions in government and defence residential complexes, granting Public Utility status to CGD projects, and directing the CPWD and the NBCC to include PNG provisions in all government residential complexes.

New Delhi, April 15: The Ministry of Home Affairs has provided security cover to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha. He will receive ‘Z+ category’ security in both Delhi and Punjab, sources said on Wednesday.

This followed the Punjab government’s decision to withdraw Chadha’s security detail earlier in the day. This action also occurred amid a growing rift between Chadha and the AAP in recent weeks.

According to sources, paramilitary forces will be deployed to provide security to the AAP leader.

This security cover has been granted based on a threat perception report submitted by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and following an assessment conducted by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The developments follow recent changes within the party. On April 2, AAP appointed Ashok Mittal as its new Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha, replacing Chadha in the role. The move was seen as a significant organisational shift, bringing in a new face from Punjab.

Earlier on April 3, Chadha broke his silence on the development, stating that he had been “silenced, not defeated”.

Meanwhile, speculation is mounting about Chadha’s position within AAP. On April 8, a separate Instagram post shared by him drew attention after it featured a purported supporter suggesting that he should form a new youth-led political party instead of joining any existing organisation.

On April 10, amid an internal rift within the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Rajya Sabha member shared a message on Instagram asserting that his parliamentary work would speak for itself.

Taking to the social media platform Instagram, Chadha posted a video and wrote, “With respect to those questioning my parliamentary performance, I’ll let my work do the talking.”

The video featured a compilation of his interventions and questions raised in the Rajya Sabha, highlighting a wide range of public policy issues he has addressed.

New Delhi, April 15: A massive fire broke out in the early hours of Wednesday in Delhi’s Rohini area, engulfing nearly half a dozen slums and leaving three members of a family dead, fire services officials said.

According to the Delhi Fire Services (DFS), the deceased include a husband, wife and their two-year-old daughter.

Officials said the fire erupted around 1:30 a.m. in a cluster of slums located near a 400-yard plot filled with plastic waste.

The presence of combustible material in the vicinity is believed to have contributed to the rapid spread of the flames, DFS officials stated.

Upon receiving information about the incident, teams from the fire services rushed to the scene and launched efforts to douse the blaze.

The blaze was reported to be extremely intense, making firefighting operations challenging for emergency responders.

After prolonged firefighting operations, the fire was eventually brought under control, officials said.

During the rescue operation, firefighters recovered three bodies from the site, which were later sent for postmortem examination.

Personnel from multiple agencies, including the fire department, local police, the Centralised Accident and Trauma Service (CATS), and the electricity department, were present at the scene.

Relief and rescue efforts continued for several hours following the incident.

In a separate incident earlier on April 12, a fire had broken out in bushes near the Rajghat bus depot in the national capital, prompting a swift response from the Delhi Fire Service.

The blaze, reported in a vegetated area adjacent to the depot, saw six fire tenders being deployed to the site to contain the flames.

The dense vegetation in the area posed challenges for firefighting teams in accessing certain pockets.

Police said that the fire was eventually brought under control and no injuries were reported in that incident.