Union PNG minister  Dharmendra Pradhan launches  BS-IV grade fuels across the country

BY SUKANTA MOHANTY

Bhubaneswar, April 1: Union petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday formally launched BS-IV grade transportation fuels across the country from here today.

The event coincided with Utkal Divas, the formation day of the state.

To mark the historic occasion of the launch of BS-IV fuels across the country, the minister symbolically commenced sale of the eco-friendly and low-emission fuels from 12 different locations across the country through live video links.

They were: Varanasi, Vijayawada, Durgapur, Gorakhpur, Imphal, Bhopal, Ranchi, Madurai, Nagpur, Patna, Guwahati and Shillong.

At the same event, the mnister handed over a deposit-free domestic LPG connection under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana(PMUY) scheme to Swalia Bibi of Shikharchandi Basti in Bhubaneswar to mark the completion of release of 2 crore LPG connections to women beneficiaries from below poverty line (BPL) households across the country.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Pradhan reiterated his ministry’s commitment to the holistic vision of  Prime Ministeri Narendra Modi. “Today, we begin a new era of clean transportation fuels that will benefit the 1.25 billion citizens of our country by substantially reducing pollution levels everywhere,” he said.

From today, India will have “Only BS-IV” fuels, Shri Pradhan reiterated, and complimented the oil marketing companies, IndianOil, HPC and BPC, for working in unison to set up refining infrastructure and logistics in a record time for the launch of BS-IV grade fuels across the country as per schedule. The OMCs are incurring an expenditure of Rs. 90,000 crore on phase-wise upgradation of fuel quality in the country.

Shri Pradhan said that even though India is not a major polluting country, we shall stand by the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s commitment at COP-21 in Paris that India will substantially reduce carbon emissions and greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years. Migration to BS-IV fuels shows India’s resolve to cut down emissions. The next step is to usher in BS-VI fuels by 1st April, 2020, to be at par with global standards, he said.

Speaking about the new milestone crossed by the PMUY scheme, Shri Pradhan said that the Government is fully committed to providing sustainable, clean and affordable energy as an essential input for economic development of India, which has emerged as the fastest going economy in the world. He said that the resounding success of initiatives like PaHaL, GiveItUp and the ongoing PMUY scheme are ample proof of the effectiveness of these socio-economic welfare schemes, which go a long way in ensuring energy inclusion of the poor.

Shri Pradhan expressed his happiness that the journey of PMUY started by the Hon’ble PM to transform the lives of BPL women across the country has crossed the 2 crore mark at Bhubaneswar today, that too on the auspicious occasion of Utkal Divas. In Odisha alone, PMUY has benefited 10 lakh BPL households and freed them from smoke-related hazards, he said.

The Petroleum Ministry is vigorously pursuing various other forms of energy such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) for industries and transport sector, compressed natural gas (CNG) and AutoLPG for automobiles, and piped natural gas (PNG) for households, besides ethanol and bio-mass to expand the existing energy basket, he added.

Shri KD Tripathi, Secretary (Petroleum), and other senior officials of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, IndianOil, HPC and BPC, besides eminent guests and invitees were present on the occasion.