Reliance Gas Transportation Infrastructure (RGTIL) 
 said it was delaying physical work on laying cross-country natural gas pipeline because of non availability of gas.
 
 Relogistics Infrastructure, a subsidiary RGTIL, in 2007-08, was authorised to lay the following pipelines: Kakinada-Haldia; Kakinada-Chennai; Chennai-Bangalore-Mangalore; and Chennai-Tuticorin. The total stretch of the network was over 2,000 km.
 
 Last month, at a meeting convened by the Petroleum Ministry, RGTIL was asked to give bank guarantee for the delay. The company sought three weeks’ time from the Ministry to furnish the guarantee.
 
 The company has written to the Government seeking clarifications on when the proposed LNG terminals in the East Coast to import gas will be ready.
 
 The company is confident of laying the pipelines a month before the commissioning of the terminals, reports suggest. 
 
 According to the authorisation, the pipelines had to be laid in three years from the date of approvals granted.
 The pipelines were to be completed within 36 months of the notification of expression of interest or 24 months from the date of 100 per cent availability of right of user (RoU), whichever is later. The deadlines expire between June and August for all the pipelines.