SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad Nov 22: Fuel will now be given at the petrol pumps of Dhanbad only after showing Covid vaccination certificate.
To keep the Covid infection under control, the Dhanbad district administration has made vaccination certificates mandatory for vehicle owners, auto, taxi and bus drivers for getting petrol/diesel refilling stations from today.
ADM (law and order) Kumar Tarachandra while issuing the directive said that the decision has been taken for protection of people and keeping infection under control.
“Petrol pumps, street vendors and public transport are the main centres of public interaction. People visit these places regularly. So, Covid vaccination certificates will be checked and fuel will be given only after showing the jab record,” said Kumar Tarachandra.
He further said since auto, taxi and bus drivers are in direct contact with people, they must be vaccinated and will have to show their certificate to the concerned officials.
Coalfield Petroleum Dealers Association (CPDA) has welcomed this decision of the administration. CPDA general secretary Sanjiv Rana said that the association has ordered all the refilling stations to follow the directive and not to give fuel to those who have no certificate.
“There is a need for awareness in rural areas where consumers protest. In Dhanbad, there are 173 petrol pumps and among them, 60 are in rural areas. So, we have requested the administration to launch awareness drives in rural areas,” said Sanjiv Rana.
ADM said that street vendors, wholesalers, Pani Puri- Khomcha vendors and vegetable sellers must be vaccinated in order to carry out day to day operations. He said that special drives will be carried out at daily and weekly markets to check if these sellers are vaccinated or not.
Rolling out the programme for vaccination of vegetable sellers and vendors, Kumar Tarachandra said that the health department team is administering a vaccination drive today at Steel Gate. Other drives will be organized at the Police Line vegetable market tomorrow ( November 23) and Purana Bazar vegetable market on November 24, Kendua vegetable wholesale market on November 25, Court More market on November 26 and at CMRI Gate on November 27.
