SHILLONG: Along with the rest of the country, the Oil Industry in collaboration with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the State Government, and the Petroleum Conservation Research Association, observed the Oil and Gas Conservation Fortnight (OGCF) 2014 in the city here on Thursday.
Joint Director, Food and Civil Supplies, PM Syiem, inaugurated the function in the presence of B Das, a prominent social worker and SS Thangkhiew, District Level Coordinator of Oil Industries for the State of Meghalaya cum Manager (Retail Sales), Ltd., Shillong, and other dignitaries.
Speaking at the function, Syiem said, “Petroleum products play a dominant role in the Indian economy and the efficient utilization of energy in a developing country is critical for its all round progress.”
He stressed on the need of protecting the environment by means of judicious use of oil and gas which is the wealth of the country.
He also said that the theme for the current year OGCF 2014 ‘Save Fuel Yani Save Money’ is aptly coined for this occasion and he thanked the organizers for generating public awareness on the subject.
Das appealed to the gathering to adopt simple energy conservation measures in their day to day life and spread the message of energy conservation to help the nation.
Thangkhiew said that India’s domestic crude production was unable to meet the growing demand and the country is heavily dependent on imports which is almost 80 per cent of the total requirement, thereby resulting in huge out go of foreign exchange, as such a very high priority should be given for conservation and efficient usage of petroleum products.
He said that various activities such as drivers’ training programme, energy audits, cooking clinics, LPG safety cum LPG savings clinics as well as seminars, shall be conducted throughout the fortnight in the State as well as the whole country to educate the masses about the importance and efficient utilization of available energy resources.
He also elaborated on the need to save LPG by way of realigning various cooking habits which can result in tremendous savings in LPG consumption thereby leading to huge saving in the budget of every household.
A LPG safety clinic and a quiz competition was also organised on the occasion and winners were awarded with various prizes.
It may be mentioned that the OGCF is observed in the country from January 15-31 every year.
