In a far-reaching move to make the holy river Ganga pollution free, Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today dedicated to the Nation 500 boats converted to run on environment-friendly Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) from petrol and diesel.
These boats are being supplied CNG from India's first floating CNG station built by GAIL (India) Limited at Namo Ghat here.
The conversion of the boats running on petrol/diesel to run on CNG also was carried out under GAIL's Corporate Social Responsibility initiative in association with Varanasi Nagar Nigam (VNN). VNN appointed Varanasi Smart City as coordinator of the project while Mecan Limited is providing engineering and consultancy services for conversion of the boats to run on CNG.
Many of the boats present across the various ghats of river Ganga are used by tourists when they visit the holy city Varanasi. However, leakage and exhaust from conventional fuels is a major concern which affects the water quality and marine life of the river Ganga.
Conversion to CNG will not only reduce pollution but the resultant savings on fuel will lead to better economic condition of boatmen.
While 500 boats have been converted to CNG so far, work is going on at a fast pace to convert the other boats to the clean fuel too.
Shares of GAIL (India) Limited was last trading in BSE at Rs. 136.80 as compared to the previous close of Rs. 133.55. The total number of shares traded during the day was 284385 in over 3447 trades.
The stock hit an intraday high of Rs. 136.95 and intraday low of 133.55. The net turnover during the day was Rs. 38697354.00.