CSE welcomes Moily's Metro ride to office

Advocacy group Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) welcomed Petroleum Minister M. Veerappa Moily's Metro ride to office to promote fuel conservation but hoped he would do it regularly, a statement said Wednesday.

"Mr Moily, make public transport a serious business for all - the rich and the poor - to save fuel, pollution and human lives. This is a good gesture, but the intent of it must not get reduced to a gimmick. It should catalyse significant change in the commuting practices in the city," the CSE said in a statement.

Moily walked from his residence at Tughlak Lane to the Race Course Metro station from where he took the train ride to the Central Secretariat station, close to the oil ministry's office in Shastri Bhawan.

"The country faces the serious challenge of importing 94 percent of its crude oil by 2030. Our oil import bill is already close to 7 per cent of the GDP. This has made India vulnerable to oil price shocks," Anumita Roychowdhury, CSE's executive director-research and advocacy, said.

"At the same time, the ministry of environment and forests inventory shows that the transportation sector is the fourth largest emitter of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions in India," she said.