Daijiworld Media Network

New Delhi, Sep 28: The government is mulling on the concept of delivering petroleum products to ones door step using e-commerce platforms.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday tweeted "Using the technological advancements in the IT and Telecom Sector we will soon be starting online home delivery of Diesel and Petrol”.

Pradhan also spoke about the same at the India Mobile Congress event on Wednesday. "We have already got permission to do that. When I presented the idea, a lot of people were skeptical, and now it is becoming a reality,” he said.

Dharmendra Pradhan 

The minister earlier had told media persons that the delivery option would cut queues at fuel stations and increase convenience. Every day about 35 crore people go to fuel stations and transactions worth Rs 2,500 crore take place at fuel stations, annually.

The minister said there are four crore consumers as against one lakh retail outlets for petroleum products.

This is not the first time the minister is pitching the idea. In April, he had proposed the same concept. Back then he had told that the customers could use e-commerce platforms to order for petroleum products which will be delivered to the address through mini pumps at a time which would suit the customer.

However, the plan was not approved by Petroleum and Safety Organisation, which termed the fuel supply in such a manner as illegal and fraught. It had also claimed that the method possess danger to public and property.

In 2016, the government had announced discount on buying petrol through the digital mode in bid to promote less-cash economy.

It is interesting to note that diesel is already being delivered at one's doorstep in Bengaluru. A start-up ‘MyPetrolPump’ started the concept in June.