Gated communities in Chennai warming up to piped natural gas

Gated communities in Chennai warming up to piped natural gas; many start mass registration of PNG at their communities in OMR

In November 2023, when Shibu K.T. moved into his new flat in Padur on Rajiv Gandhi Salai, there was one item he did not have to take along — the LPG cylinder.

At the time of booking, the developer had promised supply of piped natural gas (PNG) and he had made good on that promise by the time of delivery of flats.

“Some residents decided to keep a cylinder as a back-up, but I did not. With a prior idea of how PNG functions, I was confident this will work fine,” says Shibu, a resident of Alliance Urbanrise. And it did for Shubu, and just as he expected, it was a saving on space and money and on time too, as he did not have to keep a tab of when to book a refill.

With the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board along with the city’s gas distribution agencies running campaigns to promote the adoption of PNG by households, there is considerable buzz in Chennai where PNG infrastructure is coming up.

On CTH Road in Ambattur, work on providing PNG supply to Kochar Panchsheel has reached the entrance of the gated community. The RWA has paid an advance amount to initiate the work inside the community. A few rounds of meetings were organised to explain to residents the benefits of switching to PNG. The Association has also allowed the energy company to use the piped LPG storeroom for any infrastructure work pertaining to PNG. “The room allotted for piped LPG was never put to use, so if there is a need for space then we have it,” says Santosh Abraham, a resident.

At Alliance Orchid Springs in Korattur, more than 200 flats have registered for PNG paying ₹ 576 each. The residents welfare association is confident more residents will sign up once pipeline-laying work starts in the neighbourhood.

“Six of us from the society visited Metrozone in Anna Nagar to study the functioning of its PNG supply system. The only negative feedback we got is that cooking time has increased by some minutes in the new arrangement,” says Ganapathy Suresh, president, Orchid Springs Owners Association.