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Come October 9, if you are a Delhiite, don’t get astonished seeing Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily as your co-passenger in a metro rail coach or a city bus.
As part of a fuel conservation drive to save at least $5 billion in the country’s import bill this year, the minister would take the lead by taking public transport to his office every Wednesday.
More, the ministry has issued a circular asking all ministry officials and staff of public sector undertakings under it to do likewise, marking Wednesdays as a “bus day.” There are about 150,000 employees in the 14 PSUs under the ministry.
The minister, who stays at Tughlak Lane, would ply on the Metro from Race Course station to Central Secretariat. Not just Moily, you may even see public sector undertaking honchos like ONGC Chairman Sudhir Vasudeva, Indian Oil chief R S Butola and Hindustan Petroleum chief S Roy Choudhury using public transport, if Moily’s plan works.
“The ministry would mark one day in a week as bus day. I have issued a circular encouraging all the staffers under the ministry and related PSUs to utilise public transport for commutation. Taking the lead, I will take a metro or a bus on every Wednesday, starting from October 9,” Moily said.
Last week, the minister had unveiled a six-week Mega Petroleum Conservation Campaign, starting Tuesday. The ministry had got cricketer Virat Kohli and badminton star Saina Nehwal as brand ambassadors for this Rs 45-crore campaign. Among the steps proposed were free-bicycling schemes and training for truck and state transport drivers. Plus, general awareness programmes through print and electronic media.
When asked about a the Moily plan, a miffed petroleum industry official said, “In Hindu dharma, people fast. Does that mean food consumption comes down? Fuel consumption is similar — taking the bus would not bring fuel consumption down.”
Petrol price cut
On Friday, Moily also said there was likely to be a cut in petrol prices by the end of this month, following a drop in global prices of crude oil and appreciation of the rupee versus the dollar.
“Petrol prices are deregulated and the oil marketing companies would take a call on this as per the rupee movement as well as international crude prices. Since there is relief in this front, that may be passed on to the consumers,” the minister said. This would be the first reduction in five months.
The minister also said the country’s first strategic oil storage facility would be ready by January. These are being built at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Mangalore and Padur in Karnataka. The 1.33-million tonne Visakhapatnam facility would be the first among the three to come up.
