India, March 25 -- The government on Tuesday notified a new legal framework by invoking the Essential Commodities Act (ECA), making it mandatory for landowners to grant "right of way" for time-bound laying of gas pipelines, as part of efforts to reduce dependence on any single fuel, particularly imported liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Elaborating on "right of way" as a key element, the notification said, "The Central Government considers it necessary in public interest for a uniform framework to address issues that hinder the laying of such pipelines including denial of access to land, delay in approvals, delay in grant of right of way or right of user in the land, high fee and charges, to enable entities to undertake the laying of pipelines for transportation of natural gas and petroleum products in a time bound manner and increase the number of piped natural gas users across India." The order covers both private and government landowners, including housing societies. The move is significant as gas infrastructure projects often face delays due to gas utilities' inability to secure land rights. State governments, too, have at times slowed gas grid projects by denying "right of way" to pipeline companies. "The order comes into immediate effect and establishes a comprehensive, transparent, and investor-friendly framework for efficient gas distribution," the petroleum ministry said in a statement on Tuesday night. The move is aimed at improving the ease of doing business by simplifying procedures, reducing regulatory bottlenecks, and creating a predictable and transparent environment for stakeholders, it added. The order includes a uniform framework for laying, building, operating, and expanding pipeline infrastructure, standardized processes and timelines to reduce ambiguity and administrative discretion, time-bound approvals with deemed approval provisions to eliminate procedural delays, elimination of arbitrary levies and charges to ensure transparency and cost predictability. These measure will help both public and private investors keen on developing gas infrastructure and marketing a cleaner fuel, and will ensure a faster rollout of city gas distribution networks and trunk pipelines, and reduce excessive dependence on LPG....