`Costly` Natural Gas?

The scarcity of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) pump stations in the city has been compelling the auto rick-shaw drivers to lose a quarter of their daily earnings.

The drivers have been miffed about the hours of long they're subjected to on a daily basis. The presence on merely three filling stations in town has been hampering their daily business. The CNG pump station at Narveer Tanaji Wadi, Shivajinagar, regularly witnesses long queues of auto rickshaws, a sight that is all too common at the other pumps in the city too.
The demand for more CNG pumps, in the wake of Pune being featured amongst the 14 most polluted cities in India by the Supreme Court, is the need of the hour, feel rickshaw drivers and residents. Though the Supreme Court has directed to promote CNG for public transport, scarcity of CNG pump stations in the city means that most public transport vehicles continue to be fueled by diesel and petrol. The ones who have switched to CNG have to bear the brunt of the tedious wait on a regular basis.
"We have to stand in the queue from two onwards at night so that we get the CNG on time and do not waste our time during our business hours," said Sambaji Londe auto rickshaw driver. "Sometimes, we have to wait for the entire day when the pumps run dry. We cannot do much till the refills arrive," said Vinayak Singh, an auto rickshaw driver. "Since the central station is supplied fuel at greater pressure as compared to Dotter booster stations, we prefer to wait here," said Devendra Kumar, an auto driver.
"Though CNG is cheaper and environment-friendly, the dearth of pumps hurts daily business by as much as 30% at times. We end up spending 10-12 working hours stranded in the queue. I prefer using petrol till this problem is completely resolved," said Vikas Tupe, another auto rickshaw driver.
"The mindset of the auto rickshaw driver has to be changed. I have spoken to them personally and requested them to use the facility at Pimple Saudagar, where we have established a new CNG station in January. It's sad to see that they do not want to travel 12 odd kilometers but are happy to wait here for hours and waste precious time instead," said Ranchood Yagnik, chief general manager of the marketing and business division of Maharashtra Nigam Gas Limited (MNGL).
"At present, we have three online stations functioning.  We will have a few more stations made available to the users by June. We are also trying to resolve the issue of supply vans getting stuck at octroi posts by liaising with the officials," added Yagnik.

CRUCIAL POINTERS
•    On an average, drivers of CNG-fueled rickshaws lose 30% potential income due to the long wait at filling pumps.
•    The central station at Shivaji Nagar is preferred by most drivers since the gas supply pressure here is greater as compared to the other pumps.
•    The authorities feel that the drivers' reluctance in travelling short distances for refueling is resulting in loss of revenue for them.

--Anuj Ismail