Fortnight dedicated to Oil & Gas Conservation begins

GANGTOK, 15 Jan: The inaugural ceremony of Oil and Gas Conservation Fortnight [15 to 31 January] under the theme ‘Save fuel yani save money’ was held at the SNT Bus Stand Complex today. The ceremony was attended by Jemima Pradhan [Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department] as the chief guest.
Also present were Ranjan Bhowmick [Manager, Retail, Siliguri] and Kaushik Chattarjee [Deputy Sales Manager, Retail Sales. Siliguri] both from Indian Oil Corporation [IOC], petroleum dealers from in and around Gangtok and school children.
Speaking during the function, the chief guest, Secretary, Jemima Pradhan stated that she was happy to be part of such a programme, which was being held for the conservation of natural resources. It is also good to see children being involved in such a programme as it is they who need to be educated about conservation, she added.
“People and children have to learn to conserve and save not only oil, but also water, gas and electricity. People should learn not to waste a single drop of oil when they fill up their petrol tanks at the gas stations as even a single drop is very precious”, she said and added that even children need to be taught to switch off the lights when not being used and this applies to drinking water too.
She further urged the organizers to invite housewives to such programmes in the future as they run the homes and know more about cooking gas than their male counterparts and instead of bringing small children for such programmes, senior students, such as from classes VIII and above should be invited as they would understand more about conservation than these small children, she stated.
Stating that ‘good things always last long in life’, she asked the people present to take a pledge today to start saving and conserving oil, gas and water.
The gathering was also addressed by the Indian Oil Corporation officials. A ‘Sit and Draw’ competition for children was also held earlier in the day. The first prize was won by Rabiya Khatoon, while the second and third prizes were won by Amrita Kumari Gupta and Akash Rai, respectively. A special prize was given to Siddharth Subba and consolation prizes for very small children were won by Akrita Pradhan and Kabir Chettri.
After the oil and gas conservation fortnight pledge was taken by the people, the chief guest also flagged off the mobile van and mass rally, which culminated at the Paljor Stadium.