Lucknow, March 31 -- Chief secretary SP Goyal on Monday directed development authorities, including the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), to rope in resident welfare associations (RWAs) to encourage apartment dwellers to opt for piped natural gas (PNG) connections, as the state intensifies efforts to expand the city gas distribution (CGD) network across the state.

The directive came during a meeting of the newly constituted state-level committee reviewing bottlenecks in the rollout of CGD infrastructure across cities. The push follows the Centre's advisory to scale up PNG coverage in urban areas in view of concerns over LPG supplies amid the ongoing West Asia crisis.

Officials said the state had put in place a fast-track mechanism to...