Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Speaker Tulsi Ram on Thursday flagged off a campaign for the conservation of non-renewable sources of energy in Shimla on Thursday. The campaign,Oil and Gas Conservation Fortnight,has been launched by the Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA). Involving citizens,voluntary organisations and schools,the campaign aims at creating awareness on the issue through activities like holding quizzes and painting competitions at the school and college level. In the coming two to three years,the state would receive its first supply of natural gas from the industrial area of Baddi-Barotiwala. The campaign would also focus on preparing the mindset of prospective consumers towards gas supply for its best use in future. Siddharth Aggarwal,state-level coordinator,Indian Oil Corporation,said India largely depends on imports to meet the requirements of crude oil. At present,the countrys dependence on oil imports is 70 per cent of the total demand,which would increase to 91.6 per cent by 2020, he said.
