Moily angers commuters as he takes metro to work ’to save fuel

mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, Oct 10: Oil minister M. Veerappa Moily tried to set an example on Wednesday by taking the Metro to his office at Shastri Bhawan.

He walked from his residence at 3, Tughlaq Lane to the Race Course Metro Station, where he boarded a Yellow Line train and alighted two stops later at the Central Secretariat station.

This exercise, though aimed at inspiring people to use public transport and cut down on fuel consumption, drew angry reactions from passengers who could not board the Metro owing to the minister’s huge entourage that occupied an entire coach at peak hour.

 

Oil minister M Veerappa Moily took the Metro as part of his drive to promote fuel conservation


What was supposed to be a 15-minute trip from Tughlaq Lane to Shastri Bhawan took three times longer because of the media frenzy generated by a Union minister taking public transport. Mediapersons jostled to get Moily’s comments right from the moment he stepped out of his residence. The five-minute walk to Race Course Metro Station took almost 25 minutes as Moily explained why he proposed that Wednesdays would be ’bus day’ or ’public transport day’.

"While we are endeavouring to increase domestic production, simultaneously we should conserve fuel to reduce this import bill, which is the single-biggest reason for some of the current economic woes like current account deficit," he said.

Moily and his entourage, including security personnel, officials and mediapersons, entered the Race Course Metro Station around 10 am, peak hour for passengers rushing to their offices at Central Secretariat.

Shubham Dutta, a passenger who had to reach Connaught Place for a meeting, couldn’t make his way to the platform because of the crowd at the Metro station.

"I couldn’t reach the platform because of his (Moily’s) guards and the mediapersons around him and dropped the plan to take the Metro. I took an autorickshaw to CP, which took more time than the Metro and I was late for my meeting. I agree with the idea of saving petrol and using public transport that Mr Moily was trying to propagate, but he could have given a prior intimation about his travel plan so that people like me could avoid the Metro madness," he said.

Moily, when asked about the inconvenience, said: "The inconvenience was caused because of media and not my security."