Cabinet approves major reforms in Natural Gas Marketing to push its usage in India

The Government today gave nod to major reforms in the marketing of Natural Gas in the country. The Cabinet, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister, approved the reforms to push the usage of Natural Gas.

Briefing the media in New Delhi, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the government will initiate standardised e-bidding for bringing transparency in the price of Natural Gas in the country.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal informed that the Cabinet has also given its approval for the revised estimate cost for East-West Corridor of the Kolkata Metro Rail Project. Mr Goyal said that the project, with an estimated cost of nearly Rs 8,575 crore, will be open for the public by December 2021. He said the total Route length of the East-West Metro Corridor in Kolkata will be 16.6 kilometres and will have 12 stations.

He said that the project will ease traffic congestion, enhance urban connectivity and provide cleaner mobility solution to lakhs of daily commuters in Kolkata.

The cabinet also gave its approval for signing a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) in the field of cyber-security between India and Japan. The MoC will enhance cooperation in areas of mutual interest, which includes

• Capacity building in the area of cyberspace
• Protection of critical infrastructure
• Cooperation in emerging technologies
• Sharing information on cybersecurity threats
• Malicious cyber activities

It will lead to the development of a joint mechanism for practical cooperation to mitigate cyber threats to the security of the Information Communication Technology infrastructure.

Another MoU was signed between Zoological Survey of India and its Canadian Counterpart on barcoding of faunal Genomes. Mr Javadekar said that the Cabinet ratified the Stockholm convention by banning 7 more chemicals in the country which pose a substantial health risk. The cabinet also decided to launch a public campaign on Coronovirus from tomorrow.

The Union Cabinet today congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for entering in 20th consecutive year as an elected head of a government. I & B Minister Prakash Javadekar said, Mr Modi, brought reforms in governance, reforms in major sectors and gave the corruption-free government. He said, Prime Minister raised the standard of living of poor people and deprived sections.