India has increased speed, scale and scope of development: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that in recent years, India has increased its speed, scale and scope of development and the country cannot develop slowly now.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also inaugurated the Kochi-Mangaluru natural gas pipeline, via video conferencing.

"I do not want to talk about the reasons behind the rate of India's progress in previous decades. India cannot develop slowly now. In recent years, the country has increased its speed, scale, and scope of development," said PM Modi during his address at the event.

"The Kochi-Mangaluru pipeline will provide energy to Mangalore Chemical and Fertilizer Plant. This pipeline will also provide energy, clean fuel to Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical," he added.

The Prime Minister further stated that the government's focus is to increase the CNG stations to 10,000. Till 2014 there were only 25 lakh PNG connections. Today there are more than 72 lakh PNG connections.

"The Kochi-Mangaluru pipeline will reduce pollution in both states. With a better environment, people's health will improve. And when pollution is less, cities will have gas-based service, boosting tourism," said PM Modi.

"Our government has an integrated approach to energy planning. It has always been all-inclusive. We have brought in many reforms in the oil and gas sector and we plan on achieving 'One Nation, One Grid' soon with a shift towards a Gas-based economy," he added.

The Prime Minister further said, today, the country is witnessing work on 16,000 kilometre new pipelines all over the country which will be completed in the near future.

"Till 2014, there were just 900 CNG stations. In the last 6 years, nearly 1,500 new CNG stations have been started and we are working to take the number to 10,000," said PM Modi.

"During this COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to provide 12 crore free cylinders to the poor. This has been possible because of the developmental work we've done in the last 6 years," he added.

The use of natural gas has several environmental benefits, PM Modi said while adding that the government is taking policy initiatives to increase the share of natural gas in India's energy basket from 6 per cent to 15 per cent. Crores will be invested in the oil and gas sector in this decade itself, he added.

"Under the scheme like Ujjwala Yojna, cooking gas has reached the homes of more than eight crore families in the country. LPG related infrastructure has also strengthened in the country," said PM Modi.

According to the PMO, the 450 km long pipeline has been built by GAIL (India) Ltd. It has a transportation capacity of 12 Million Metric Standard Cubic Metres per day and will carry natural gas from the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Regasification Terminal at Kochi (Kerala) to Mangaluru (Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka), while passing through Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod districts.

( With inputs from ANI )