Punjab State would get 6,192 kilolitre non-subsidized kerosene oil on the occasion of celebrations of 550th prakash purb of Guru Nanak Dev. Informing this, the state Principal Secretary (Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs) KAP Sinha said that Punjab Government’s request to the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoP&NG), for allocation of non-subsidized kerosene for special needs for the year 2019-20, has been considered and the State has been allocated 6192 kilolitre non subsidized PDS kerosene for the year.
Sinha said that a number of religious activities like kirtan, katha, prabhat pheri, langar and educational activities such as seminars, workshops, lectures, etc are being organized to mark the year long celebrations of 550th prakash purb.
“All such activities attract huge gathering of sangat or general public for which langar is prepared on a grand scale. For the same, a huge quantity of cooking fuel is required. Since large scale burning of wood would cause pollution as well as damage the fragile green cover of the State. So, to facilitate the sangat or general public in celebration of the occasion of 550th year of Guru Nanak Dev’s prakash purab in a befitting manner and on a grand scale, as envisioned by the Government, the Unioj Ministry, GoI through its discretionary quota, has allocated non-subsidized PDS kerosene,” he said. The religious activities like kirtan, katha, prabhat, pheri and langar would be conducted by Gurudwaras, religious associations, Sukhmani societies and other religious institutions like SGPC, Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle, Sikh Missionary College, etc. In addition to this, educational activities such as seminars, workshops, lectures, etc would be organized at various primary and secondary schools, colleges, universities etc.
Since, in the allocation of non subsided PDS kerosene, there is no element of subsidy, thus the distribution of this kerosene shall be done directly from the existing wholesale dealers to the institutions and the like, said Sinha.
He said that the ration depots, which serve the basic purpose of distribution of subsidized commodities, shall not be associated in this process. The lifting shall be directly from PSU Oil Company Depots by the wholesalers.
The role of DFSCs and other field functionaries of department of Food Supply shall be limited to directing the requests or queries made by religious and educational institutions to the wholesale dealers.