The local industry has voiced their concern with Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, during the latter’s visit to the city today.
A delegation of the Federation of Industrial & Commercial Organisation (FICO) under the leadership of KK Seth, chairman, FICO, and Gurmeet Singh Kular, president of the organisation, met Puri and submitted a memorandum expressing concern over the recently notified Motor Spirit and High Speed Diesel (Temporary Regulation of Supply through Retail Outlets) Order, 2026.
Kular said that the industry was perturbed over the recent restrictions on industrial and commercial consumers from procuring diesel through retail outlets and the limit of 200 litres per vehicle per day. It will severely impact industrial operations, particularly MSMEs, he said. Most industries rely on retail fuel stations for their daily diesel requirements as they do not possess their own consumer pumps or fuel storage infrastructure.
The industrialists maintained that Ludhiana was one of the largest industrial hubs in north India. While industries are willing to adopt cleaner fuels and support environmental initiatives, major industrial areas and focal points of Ludhiana continue to remain deprived of piped natural gas (PNG) connectivity despite gas pipelines till Doraha.
“We have urged the minister to reconsider the notification, or else industry will be in trouble”, said Kular. One of the petrol dealers in Ludhiana said that with the 200-litre cap, the government had also mentioned that fuel would be provided in PESO-approved containers.
“When these are not available here, how can the entire industry go and start purchasing these containers, which actually are costly too as compared to other regular plastic tanks. First, the government must provide them with enough PESO-approved tanks and then put restrictions,” said the dealer
