GUWAHATI, Jan 16 - Governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi today inaugurated Saksham-2018, a month-long awareness campaign for conservation of petroleum products, at the Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Noonmati in the city.
As part of Saksham, the Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, has been organising the campaign to sensitise the consumers about energy conservation efforts in the country since 1978. Over the past 30 years, PCRA has helped consumers in different sectors such as transport, industry, agriculture and household to realise energy conservation to a great extent.
Speaking on the occasion, Governor Mukhi said, �As we are all working for double digit economic growth for the country, the energy demand is bound to grow at a similar pace. The country�s source of energy basket, which grossly constitutes petroleum products, is also diminishing at a fast rate. While we are recognising and adopting measures to increase our dependency on renewable energy sources, the demand for petroleum products as a source of energy is still growing. India has a huge deficit in crude oil production level compared to its consumption pattern.� He urged the consumers at large to take a pledge to use energy judiciously.
As per the figures of 2016-17, the country consumed about 194.2 million metric tonnes (MMT) of petroleum products and the Indian refineries processed about 245.4 MMT of crude oil against an installed combined capacity of 230 million metric tonnes per annum. However, these figures are hugely offset by the fact that crude oil production was merely 36 million metric tonnes in the same year.
Drawing the attention of the people, the Governor said India�s import bill is high and always dependent on global crude oil prices, rupee depreciation as well as rise in domestic consumption. However, sufficient refining output has reduced import dependency on petroleum products and the country has been able to export finished products to contain the foreign exchange deficit to some extent.
The Governor also hailed PCRA and public sector oil and gas companies for undertaking intensive conservation awareness campaigns among the masses and also appealed to all concerned to actively participate in the campaigns.
Synchronising with the event, IOCL, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, handed over a cheque of Rs 20 lakh to the Kamrup (M) district administration for upgrading the tourist-friendly infrastructural facilities of the Umananda temple.
Executive Director of IOCL Dipankar Ray, Executive Director of Guwahati Refinery Jogen Barpujari, Joint Director of PCRA, Chief General Manager of HPCL Abhijit Bhattacharya, State Head BPCL Peeyush Gupta, along with a host of other dignitaries, were present in the inaugural function.
