Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Petroleum and Natural Gas, formally launched BS-IV grade transportation fuels across the country at a recently-held event in Odisha that coincided with the Utkal Divas (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, the locations being Varanasi, Vijayawada, Durgapur, Gorakhpur, Imphal, Bhopal, Ranchi, Madurai, Nagpur, Patna, Guwahati and Shillong.
At the same event, the Minister handed over a deposit-free domestic LPG connection under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) scheme to Swalia Bibi of Shikharchan Basti in Bhubaneswar to mark the completion of release of two crore LPG connections to women beneficiaries from below poverty line (BPL) households across the country.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan underlined his Ministry’s commitment to the holistic vision of Prime Minister, Mr. 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, Mr. 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 crores on phase-wise upgradation of fuel quality in the country.
Mr. Pradhan said that even though India is not a major polluting country, we shall stand by the 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 April 1, 2020, to be at par with global standards, he added.
Speaking about the new milestone crossed by the PMUY Scheme, the Minister 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.
Mr. Pradhan expressed his happiness that the journey of PMUY started by the 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.
Mr. 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.