Women take up fuel conservation cause

Women take up fuel conservation cause

URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/02/11/stories/2003021106750400.htm
The Hindu
Online edition of India's National NewspaperTuesday, Feb 11, 2003
By Our Staff Reporter
NEW DELHI FEB. 10. Over 500 women on bicycles, mopeds, motorbikes and scooters participated in the first Save Oil Two-Wheeler Women Rally organised by the Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) here on February 8. The event, which was part of the Oil Conservation Fortnight 2003, seeks to combine the message of Oil Conservation with that of Women's Empowerment.
Held under the aegis of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the rally sought to impress that "women have moved out from the stereotype `ghar ki bahu' and have established their own identity.''
The Executive Director of PCRA, Leena Mehendale, said in view of the women's rise, her organisation, which is basically into conservation, decided to associate itself with the cause of "women's empowerment'' as well.
The rally, that was flagged off by Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ram Naik, who flagged it off at Talkatora Indoor Stadium. During the nearly one-hour duration, the motorised two-wheeelers covered a distance of 9 km through Park Street, Shankar Road, Upper Ridge Road, Simon Bolivar Marg, SP Marg and Willingdon Crescent before returning to Talkatora Stadium. The cyclists covered 2 km through Park Street and Shankar Road before returning to the venue.
The winners of the rally received an LML Freedom DX bike as a mega prize and an automatic washing machine, microwave and oven-toaster-griller as first, second and third prizes.