Meeting of the Consultative Committee for Petroleum Ministry

Meeting of the Consultative Committee of the Members of Parliament for the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas was held in New Delhi on 30th January, 2017. Following Hon’ble Members participated in the meeting -Shri Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, Shri Chandrakant Bhaurao Khaire, Shri Narasimham Thota, Shri Ninong Ering, Shri Pansunoori Dayakar, Col. (Retd.) Sona Ram Choudhary, Shri Tamradhwaj Sahu, Smt Veena Devi, Shri Amar Singh, Shri Ravi Prakash Verma and Shri S.R. Balasubramoniyan.

A presentation on the topic “Conservation & Fuel Efficiency” was made during the meeting. The Members gave valuable inputs and suggestions to further promote conservation and efficient use of fuels in the country. Chairing the meeting, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for M/o Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan welcomed all Members of the Consultative Committee to the first such meeting of 2017. Shri Pradhan emphasized that India is a fast growing economy and macro-economic drivers indicate significant upside in consumption of petroleum products. He said that the Government have been giving high priority to conservation and efficiency measures in order to reduce the increasing gap between demand and indigenous supply of crude oil. He said fuel conservation has two pronged benefits in the Indian context ie it is necessary for energy security and also for its importance in health and environment protection.

The Ministry has taken up a goal of reducing import of petroleum products by 10 % by the year 2022. Development of Fuel Economy Norms for heavy duty vehicles, leapfrogging from BS IV to VI fuel norms, positioning of cleaner fuels like PNG and CNG, ethanol blending of Petrol etc are some of the decisions of Government in the direction of petroleum efficiency and conservation. Shri Pradhan highlighted significant steps taken by PCRA on conservation activities being undertaken by them like training programmes for drivers of various STUs, heavy commercial vehicles, Energy Efficiency Studies of small, medium and large industries , awareness programmes for promoting conservation of LPG and PNG for housewives and cooks amongst others. PCRA is conducting month long mass awareness programmes across the country on fuel conservation called Saksham – 2017.