Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today gave in principle approval to set up a gas based 1000 MW power plant in collaboration with Gas Authority of India (GAIL) at Ropar. This decision was taken by Badal in a meeting with the team of senior officers of GAIL led by its chairman & Managing Director BC Tripathi here at CMO this morning. The Chief Minister asked the CMD Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to convene a separate meeting with the top brass of GAIL to thrash out various issues involved in establishing the gas based power plant at Ropar. It was proposed to have three units of 330 MW each, initially a unit of 330 MW could be set up and subsequently other two units could be added at the later stage depending on the success of previous unit. This project was seen as financially viable and self sustainable because 150 acres of land was already available in the vicinity of the Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant at Ropar besides assured gas supply from Dadri – Nangal pipeline on its way.Badal asked the CMD GAIL to immediately set up enabling infrastructure in the state for the assured supply of CNG to the transport sector. He also agreed to the proposal of Tripathi to initially run the city bus service in Ludhiana and Jalandhar on CNG which could be later on replicated by the state government to run the Punjab Roadways and PEPSU buses. The Chief Minister asked the Principal Secretary Local Government to work out modalities to start intercity bus service on pilot basis which would not only be affordable but also pollution free. He said that this model could also be applied in other municipal corporation cities of Amritsar, Bathinda, Patiala and Mohali later on. Badal also asked the Chief Secretary to get the master gas plan prepared from Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation and GAIL to ensure uninterrupted gas supply in the state. He also asked the Punjab Pollution Control Board to issue directives to the industrial hubs along the gas pipeline for immediate conversion of fuel usage to gas. Taking part in the deliberations, CMD GAIL apprised the Chief Minister that the present shortage of 3500 MW in the state could be catered by the gas based peak power plants by 2014-15. Share of TAPI gas would be made available from 2016-17 for entire shortage of power in the state. He also emphasized the need for formation of joint working group of PSPCL and GAIL for prompt resolution of all issues related to power generation. Tripathi also informed the Chief Minister that the state government should make optimum utilization of gas in the power sector, milk plants, public transport, industries and fuel as it was affordable as well as environment-friendly, besides its usage could also save lot of revenue incurred on diesel in transport sector because of its least possibility of any pilferage of gas.Meanwhile, the Chief Secretary asked the Secretary Transport to sign a MoU with GAIL within a fortnight for initiating an action bound plan to run buses of Punbus/Punjab Roadways on CNG. He also asked the transport department to explore all possibilities to switch over the public transport from diesel to CNG in a phased manner. The Chief Secretary also asked the transport department to explore the ways and means to start few direct bas routes from Amrtisar to Delhi on CNG as the GAIL had already a network of CNG stations enroute National Highway 1 at Delhi and Sonepat. Likewise, the other stations at Ambala, Rajpura, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar would be soon set up for the purpose of refueling. Conceding the request of the CMD GAIL to allot land for its zonal office at Mohali, the Badal asked the Chief Secretary to take up this issue with GMADA for the allotment of suitable site. Prominent amongst others who attended the meeting included Chief Secretary Rakesh Singh, Principal Secretary Industries & Commerce AR Talwar, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister SK Sandhu, Principal Secretary Local Govt. Suresh Kumar, Secretary Power Anirudh Tiwari, Secretary Transport Mandeep Singh, CMD PSPCL KD Chaudhary besides KJS Cheema, Gaggandip Singh Brar and Gurkirat Kirpal Singh all Special Principal Secretaries to Chief Minister. Team from GAIL included CMD BC Tripathi, Director Marketing Parbhat Singh, CEO GAIL Gas Ltd. (GGL) J.Wason, Executive Director Marketing Rajeev Mathur, GM GGL SP Sharma and office Incharge Zonal Office Chandigarh Sanjay Arora.