Chandigarh, May 29 (IANS) Chandigarh is likely to get piped natural gas supply for kitchens by April next year, the city's MP and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said Saturday.

Bansal said that he has been assured by Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora that the piped natural gas facility will be extended to Chandigarh by April 2011.

The main supply pipeline of natural gas is being laid between Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Ludhiana (Punjab) via Ambala (Haryana). As Chandigarh will be less than 50 km from this pipeline, Bansal urged Deora to include the construction of pipeline to Chandigarh in the present plan itself, slated to be completed by April 2011.

Deora has agreed to do so, Bansal said.

Chandigarh has a population of over 1.1 million and a majority of the consumers have liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections for kitchen use.