Fuel outlets in eight Indian states will remain closed on Sundays starting May 14, 2017. This decision has been taken following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to conserve oil.

“We had planned to shut our outlets on Sundays a few years back. But oil marketing companies had then requested us to reconsider our decision. Now we have decided to shut the outlets on Sundays,” said Suresh Kumar, an executive committee member of the consortium of Indian petroleum dealers.

The Prime Minister had recently expressed his view during his recent ‘Mann ki baat’ programme to conserve oil to save the environment.

Kumar, who is also the vice-president of Tamil Nadu Petroleum Dealers Association, said nearly 20,000 outlets in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Haryana would be shut for 24 hours on Sundays from the 14th of May.

He added that the fuel outlets which normally have about 15 staff each would have one staff member on the holidays to provide fuel if there was an emergency situation.

Source