After a section of dealers declared that they would keep their petrol pump shut on Sundays, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on Wednesday distanced itself from the move, saying that the government neither endorses nor approves of it.
In a series of tweets, the Petroleum Ministry criticised the move saying that the general public would be inconvenienced by it.
The government clarification comes after Consortium of Indian Petroleum Dealers (CIPD), which claims to have 25,000 members, asked its members to shut shop on Sundays, in view of the Prime Minister’s call during his recent “Mann ki Baat” programme to conserve oil to save the environment.
This was followed by smaller dealer federations in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Haryana declaring that they would not be selling fuel on every Sunday from May this year.
“If every citizen resolves to obey traffic rules, if every citizen resolves that he will discharge his duties honestly, if every citizen resolves that he will not use petrol or diesel one day in a week – these are not very big things but these will contribute to the realisation of the dream of this country,” PM Modi had said according to media reports.
Clarifying government’s stance on lowering fuel consumption, the Ministry tweeted:
(Feature Image source: PTI)