With a view to create awareness among the consumers of fossil fuels, Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA), Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gastoday launched a month long campaign,highlighting the adverse health and environmental impacts of increasing carbon footprints. The Secretary Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Chairman, PCRA Shri TarunKapoor launched the campaign here today. ‘SAKSHAM’s idea is to convince consumers to switch to cleaner fuels and bring in behavioral change to use fossil fuel intelligently.

The campaign through various pan-India activities such as cyclothon, farmer workshops, seminars, painting competition, CNG vehicle driving contest, etc will spread awareness among masses about the advantages of using clean fuels. The campaign will also spread awareness about 7 key drivers that Prime Minister NarendraModi recently mentioned,saying that collectively these would help India move towards cleaner energy.

The key drivers include moving towards a gas-based economy, cleaner use of fossil fuels, greater reliance on domestic sources to drive bio-fuels, achieving renewable targets with the set deadlines, increased use of electric vehicles to decarbonize mobility, increased use of cleaner fuels like Hydrogen, and digital innovation across all energy systems.

Shri TarunKapoor, speaking on the occasion, lauded the energy companies for taking steps in adopting fuel conservation measures as well as diversifying into the clean and green energy ventures. He said that the Saksham like initiatives help in reducing fuel consumption and adoption of energy efficiency measures which lead to better lives of the people, healthy environment, sustainability and development of the country. Shri Kapoor said that the theme of this year’s campaign not only focuses on conservingl fossil fuels but also on promoting green energy. He said all the energy companies are now part of the transition to fuels which are clean and leave very less carbon footprint. Shri Kapoor stressed upon the need for energy conservation as India's energy demand grows and called on for leveraging technologies and digital innovation to achieve the twin goals of energy efficiency and sustainability as we move forward.

The secretary administered the pledge of Oil and Gas Conservation. He gave away awards for exemplary work in Oil & Gas Conservation by State Governments and Oil Companies and also awarded STUs for KMPL improvement. He also presented Award for the “Best performance in PAT Cycle-II for Refineries.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between PCRA and EESL for promotion of Energy Efficient PNG Stove on the occasion.

Last year's edition of SAKSHAM saw over 1.48 crore school children participating in PCRA's flagship National Competitions that were organized to disseminate important message of fuel conservation energy efficiency and environment protection amongst youngsters. In the month-long event, almost nine crore people were directly reached through about forty-seven thousand programmes across the country. Over the years PCRA has been at the forefront of promoting energy efficiency and conservation in various sectors and have been working towards sensitizing citizens about the need to adopt cleaner and greener forms of energy.

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YKB/SK