The private car Population running on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR) has risen by 13% in the past one year and touched the four-lakh mark, latest transport department statistics on Monday showed. The total CNG vehicular population has now gone over nine lakh, it stated.
The sale of CNG-run cars and other vehicles running on the green fuel was badly hit during the Covid pandemic and had dropped by nearly 50% in 2020. However, in 2021, there was recovery in sales and the registrations went up by 24% in Mumbai, thereafter in 2022.
In Greater Mumbai alone, in 2022, the maximum registrations were in the eastern suburbs with 6,709 new CNG vehicles hitting the roads. Th-is was followed by the island city with 6,518 such vehicles.
In 2021 and 2022, citizens felt the pinch of rising CNG rates – hiked by around Rs 35 per kg. The price of CNG had skyrocketed to an all-time high of Rs 89.50 per kg, and this was also instrumental in the hike of autorickshaw and taxi fares in the MMR from October 1, 2022.