Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 31: To ensure availability of cooking gas to the consumers of J&K at their doorsteps, Minister for CA&PD, Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan today asked the oil and gas companies to issue dealership licenses at block level.
The Minister said this while addressing valedictory function of “Oil and Gas Conservation Fortnight-2013” here this morning. He said this would help the Government and gas companies to maintain uniform distribution of cooking gas and save the precious time of consumers.
The Minister said due to lack of adequate gas agencies across the State, the consumers are facing lot of problems and it was the need of the hour that dealership should be sanctioned at block levels. He directed the gas companies to take a step in this direction at the earliest so that the the difficulties of consumers can be eased out. He said this would also help to check the black-marketing of LPG to a large extent.
Referring the inconvenience being faced by the consumers across the State, the Minister cited the example of border district Kupwara, where two gas agencies are cattering to 8 lakh population of the district and said same is the case in other districts. He said this leads to artificial shortage of cooking gas.
The Minister also stressed on to take steps to plug the bogus connections at the earliest and confirmation of the genuine connection of consumes at fast track basis. He asked the gas companies to redress the issues of genuine connection holders at an earliest.
Appreciating the decision of Central Government to enhance the cap on subsidized LPG cylinders from 6 to 9, the Minister said this decision provide a great relief to the households adding the State Government would further pursue centre to enhance the cap from 9 to 12 in case of Jammu and Kashmir considering the geographical location of the State.
Regarding the provision of home delivery of LPG , the Minister asked the Oil companies to go for it before the March 31, 2013 fixed by Chief Minister as the people are facing a lot of inconvenience due to lack of this facility.
The Minister underlined the need for launching a vigorous campaign to create awareness among people about the importance of energy saving, including oil and gas to secure the country.
The Minister said that the main objective of celebrating this fortnight was to create awareness about fuel saving tips during day to day activities. He said that the consumption of fuel like oil and gas use in human activity including transport, industries, agriculture and households can be reduced to a large extent if these tips are followed by the consumers. He stressed on achieving the goal by launching mass awareness campaigns in urban as well as rural areas.
State level coordinator of oil companies in Jammu and Kashmir, R. K. Shahab threw light on aims and objective of celebration of oil and gas conservation fortnight.
Senior Regional Manager, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Ashwini Kumar Gupta briefed about the activities held during the fortnight.
Later, the Minister distributed mementoes and cash awards among the students who took part in various activities during the fortnight long celebrations.
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