Come October 9, if you are a Delhiite, dont get astonished seeing Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily as your co-passenger in a metro rail coach or a city bus. Moily want to do this to lead by example every Wednesday to encourage fuel conservation. (Surprisingly Moily is starting his bus yatra only from October 9! Why not from today onwards!! Moily has also not specified whether his family members will also do the same thing!!!)
As part of a fuel conservation drive to save at least $5 billion in the countrys import bill this year, the minister would take the lead by taking public transport to his office every Wednesday. (Moily must have forgotton that if every minister and top government officials including their family members stops using car for 1 day a week loads of petrol will be saved!) 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 Moilys 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. ( Moily must declared the amount paid to Virat and Saina for thie campaign!!) When asked about Moilys plan, a miffed petroleum industry official said, In every dharma, people fast. Does that mean food consumption comes down? Fuel consumption is similar taking the bus would not bring fuel consumption down. These days Moily is turned oilier and slipper thats all he forgot to ask Manmohan, Sonia and Rahul to do just the way he proposed to do to save petrol.