‘No helmet, no petrol’ drive a non starter
Petrol pump owners say will make people aware this week, ensure implementation from next week
The ‘no helmet, no petrol’ drive launched jointly by the police department and Lucknow district administration from Monday has failed to make an impact. A status check by HT Team revealed that though the staff at petrol pumps asked the people to wear helmets if they wanted fuel but did not refuse petrol to them. Those who did not have helmets borrowed it from others to get petrol.
The ‘no helmet, no petrol’ drive launched jointly by the police department and Lucknow district administration from Monday has failed to make an impact.
A status check by HT Team revealed that though the staff at petrol pumps asked the people to wear helmets if they wanted fuel but did not refuse petrol to them. Those who did not have helmets borrowed it from others to get petrol.
“We are asking everyone coming to us to wear helmet,” said an employee at a petrol pump in Indira Nagar.
At a petrol pump near Badshahnagar, the employees did not even care to ask for helmets.
Though the petrol pump owners had agreed to implement the drive from Monday during a meeting with the district administration officials, the stakeholders said they would make consumers aware of the new rule till Saturday.
President of Lucknow Petrol Pumps Owners’ Association Ranjeet Kumar said, “Consumers will be made aware of the ‘no helmet, no petrol’ drive this week. We will start refusing petrol to people without helmet from next Monday.”
“Banners and poster will be put up at every petrol pump this week to create awareness among the people about the importance of wearing helmets,” he said.
The drive evoked a mixed reaction from the staff at various petrol pumps in the city.
A petrol pump employee said he did not think the drive was feasible. A manager at a petrol pump in Gomti Nagar said, “How can I refuse petrol if someone comes to me. There may be some emergency situation and if I refuse petrol I may also have to face action.”
It is not for the first time that the police have tried to launch such a drive. Every time the effectiveness of the campaign was marred by poor implementation and ill-informed staffers at petrol pumps. In 2011, the police tried to launch the campaign in Farrukhabad but it failed to change the scenario.
On October 31, 2012, the government directed petrol pump owners not to give fuel to twowheeler riders without helmets but it made little impact.