City's piped gas supplier pulled up for serving 'only niche areas'

GURGAON: The administration has issued a show-cause notice to Haryana City Gas Distribution Limited (HCG) - the lone supplier of domestic piped gas in Gurgaon - asking why its licence should not be cancelled for not expanding its customer base in the city the way it should have.
Deputy commissioner T L Satyaprakash has sent the notice in the wake of complaints by several RWAs."Despite operating from the geographic area of Gurgaon, the company has made slow progress since 2009. They need to invest in both industrial and domestic supply and cannot say no to anybody," Satyaprakash says in the notice.
"There is hardly any retail gas supply and bio and natural gas supply provisioned to household customers and other beneficiaries," the notice adds.
The DC has criticized the firm for operating only in niche areas with very high profit margins. "In case of retail gas supply to household customers, there is hardly any investment that has come through during the last couple of years," the notice says, adding, "This is nothing but compromising the potential of natural gas supply in the district by capturing monopoly on supply."
HCG has also been asked to put up all papers related to the actual investment made in facilitating the piped/retail gas supply to household customers in the Gurgaon area since the inception of the facility in the 2008-09 fiscal.
In its reply, the HCG has said the firm is in the process of developing its network in Gurgaon in a phase-wise manner. "PNG distribution will be initiated in old Gurgaon in the next financial year," the company has said.
The firm has also stated that it has achieved a growth rate of more than 50% and made a total investment of Rs 1,595 lakh since it started operating in the city.
"The deputy commissioner must have received a complaint and based on that they may have sent us the letter. We received the letter last month and have given our reply with all information to the DC. Our licence has not been cancelled," said the firm's representative. The district administration has now forwarded the matter to the industries department.