By Anurjay Dhal
PURI: With Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan heading the Union PNG-Steel Ministry, a first of its kind cyclothon at different city level under the banner of Saksham Cycle Day 2020 was flagged off from Puri’s Gundicha Mandir, Puri on Sunday.
Organized under the dynamic leadership of Jayant Sarangi, BJP’s MLA Puri, the Cycle Day attracted around more than 500 participants from all walks of life including officials from various organisations and the Oil Industry, school and college children cycling professionals. Hon’ble MLA, Puri administered the Saksham Pledge and he himself led the cycling amidst great excitement and fan-fare to create awareness for cycle.
The genesis of Saksham2020 (Sanrakshan Kshamata Mahotsav 2020)” lay in Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel appeal to people about avoiding the use of petrol & diesel to conserve fuels and contribute towards Nation building. The promotion of cycling through this event is aimed at instilling socio-environmental consciousness among citizens towards the larger aim of conserving foreign exchange on fuel imports.
Speaking on the occasion, Sarangi said that benefits of cycling are not only limited to protect environment or fuel conservation but it also carries huge health and fitness dividends. He further said that judicious use of various forms of energy and its conservation is a matter of vital importance to all of us for the betterment of our society and healthy environment. He said that conservation is a collective responsibility of all of us. It will be possible only when the industries, individual citizens, organizations, Oil Companies and the Government share a collective responsibility of petroleum conservation to conserve the available resources of energy and create a cleaner environment for the future generations.
Sarangi appealed to all citizens to join in the movement for conserving the finite petroleum resources through practicing simple, easily implementable tips while using petroleum products in cooking, transport, agriculture and industries to extract maximum utilization and efficiency. It also helps us to save money and mitigate the adverse social, economic and environmental impacts associated with oil production and consumption which include air pollution, global warming, water pollution, dependence on import etc. He urged to all citizens to come together and work for building a nation that is green, environmentally clean and pollution free.
Cyclothon allowed participants to experience the joy of cycling, while promoting fuel conservation, with the underlying message of reducing excessive dependency on oil for a cleaner and greener environment.
The Cyclothon was organized by Petroleum Conservation & Research Association (PCRA), and supported by the oil companies viz. IOCL, BPCL, HPCL, ONGC, GAIL, OIL, MRPL, CPCL, NRL and IGL in association with various cycling club of Odisha. Apart from Puri, the other four locations are Cuttack, Berhumpur, Rourkela and Sambalpur, where similar cyclothon were organised by Oil Companies.
