Rawalpindi - ‘No helmet, no petrol’ drive was launched jointly by district government and city traffic police in order to save the motorcyclists from fatal injuries in case of any road mishap.
In this connection, a notification was also issued by Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Dr Umer Jahangir on Saturday, instructing the petrol pump owners/fillers not to sale petrol to the motorcyclists who are travelling without helmet.
The notification reads as ‘You are directed to inform all petrol pump owners in city in writing to ensure that the fuel is not sold to any motorcyclist who is travelling without a helmet until further notice’.
According to a survey conducted by The Nation, the drive evoked a mix reaction from the staff at various petrol pumps in the city. Some of the employees asked people to wear helmets if they wanted fuel but did not refuse to fill the tanks of their motorcycles.
“We are asking everyone coming to us for petrol to wear helmets,” said an employee at a petrol pump at Airport Road.
However, at one petrol pump on Peshawar Road, employees did not even care to ask the motorcyclists for helmets. The employee said that he did not think the drive was feasible.
“How can I refuse petrol if someone comes to me? There may be some emergency and if I refuse petrol, I may also have to face an action from my manager,” stated a filler employed at a pump on GT Road.
The drive reportedly failed to pick up with petrol pump owners saying they will start making consumers aware about the drive from this week.
“Though we have agreed to implement the drive from Monday during a meeting with the district administration officials but we would work towards an awareness campaign throughout the week,” said a pump owner at Airport Road.
He said that banners and posters would be displayed at petrol pumps about the importance of wearing helmets and the ban imposed by the district government and city traffic police officials. “We will start refusing petrol to people without helmets from Monday,” said a manager of a fuel pump in Katcheri.
ADC (General) was not available for comments.
