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.
Such closure of petro pumps by a small section of dealers will lead to inconvenience to general public @dpradhanbjp
— Petroleum Ministry (@PetroleumMin) April 19, 2017
@PetroleumMin neither endorses nor approves of move by small section of dealers to keep their petrol pumps closed on Sundays @dpradhanbjp
— Petroleum Ministry (@PetroleumMin) April 19, 2017
Major dealer’s federations have clarified that they don’t endorse any closure of petrol pumps on any day @dpradhanbjp
— Petroleum Ministry (@PetroleumMin) April 19, 2017
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:
Hon PM in #MannKiBaat appealed to People of India not to use fuel once a week & not to dealers to close their pumps on Sundays @dpradhanbjp
— Petroleum Ministry (@PetroleumMin) April 19, 2017
(Feature Image source: PTI)