A decision by the gas distributor, GAIL of curtailing gas supplies to manufacturing units in South Gujarat is feared to leave many glass and ceramics units non-functional and render thousands jobless. Following revised guidelines by the Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), GAIL has been authorised to divert domestic gas from non-priority sectors to meet the requirement of compressed natural gas (CNG) and piped natural gas (PNG) segments as per their actual consumption. Considering the PNGRB guideline issued on 20 August, GAIL has decided to cut domestic gas supplies by 58% to over 30 glass makers starting September 16. "The decision will force companies to depend on either imported RLNG or furnace oil which are almost four times costlier than APM gas. This will lead to losses for the companies," said A Jain, Vice-president, S Gujarat Small Gas Consumers; Association. Total gas allocation to these companies is about 0.6 million metric standard cubic meters per day (MMSCMD) which will be reduced to 0.35 MMSCMD. Companies that will be affected include: Pragati Glass; Piramal Glass, Haldyn Glass; Gujarat Borosil Ltd; Schott Glass and Belgium Ceramics, among others. "We will fight against the decision and if it yields nothing, will stop production," said Jain, who is the director of Gujarat Borosil, who manufacture low iron textured solar glass for photovoltaic panels. If these companies cease production, about 100,000 people will lose their jobs, while economic loss will be huge.
