Don't like waiting in queues for petrol? Govt plans to get it delivered at your doorstep

The Government is considering a plan for home delivery of petroleum products to consumers if they make a pre-booking to cut long queues at fuel stations, the oil ministry tweeted on Friday.

“Options being explored where petro products may be door delivered to consumers on pre booking” @dpradhanbjp (1/2)

— Petroleum Ministry (@PetroleumMin) April 21, 2017

“This would help consumers avoid spending excessive time and long queues at fuel stations” @dpradhanbjp (2/2)

— Petroleum Ministry (@PetroleumMin) April 21, 2017

About 350 million people come to fuel stations every day, it said. Annually, 25 billion rupees  worth of transactions takes place at fuel stations.

India, the world's third biggest oil consumer, will be introducing daily price revision of petrol and diesel in five cities from May 1, ahead of a nation-wide roll out of the plan.

Meanwhile, the petroleum ministry has criticised the decision of a section of petrol pump operators, mostly in South India, to keep outlets shut on Sundays, saying such a move will cause inconvenience to the general public.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal of not using fuel for a day to help cut India's import dependence, the ministry said it was aimed at conserving fuel and not for petrol pump owners to remain shut on Sundays.

The Consortium of India Petroleum Dealers (CIPD) took the decision keeping in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to reduce fuel consumption, it has stated. Already, the All India Petroleum Dealers Association, which claims to represent 80 per cent of the 53,224 petrol pumps of public sector oil firms, has said it is not participating in the closure exercise.

Southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, parts of Karnataka - mostly around Bengaluru - and some areas of Maharashtra, especially Mumbai, may see petrol pump owners down their shutters on Sundays beginning May 14 to press for higher commission on petrol and diesel they sell.

All India Petroleum Dealers Association president Ajay Bansal said that the association, which has nearly 46,000 petrol pump owners as members, are not participating in the closure.

(With inputs from Reuters)