AFP, BENGALURU, India
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged the public to cut down on gasoline and diesel consumption amid supply disruptions due to the Middle East conflict. India is one of the few nations in the region that has not increased prices of gasoline and diesel for domestic consumers or rationed supplies, but it has increased prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) — a primary cooking fuel in the nation — after disruptions following the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which led to Iran’s near-total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.“We have to reduce our use of petrol and diesel. In cities with metro lines, we should try to travel by metro... If we must use a car, then we should try to car pool,” Modi said on Sunday, addressing a gathering in Telangana state.
Chef Atul Lahkar lights a fire with wood and coal to prepare food for his restaurant amid a regional gas shortage in Guwahati, India, on March 19.
Photo: AP
He added that restrictions on use were also necessary to save foreign currency spent on fuel imports.“We must also place a strong emphasis on saving foreign exchange, as petrol and diesel have become so expensive globally,” he said.
Modi also urged people to resume energy-saving schemes that were in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.“We should prioritise work from home, online conferences and virtual meetings again,” he said. Indian Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said that oil marketing companies (OMCs) had taken a hit on their revenues while ensuring “uninterrupted energy imports and supply.”“OMCs are buying crude, gas and LPG at higher cost, but in order to protect consumers, they are selling final products at lower cost leading to massive mounting losses of up to 1,000 crore rupees [US$120 million] per day,” Puri said Sunday on social media. He urged citizens to turn Modi’s “empathetic appeal” into a mass movement “to save and conserve energy.”