Union Minister Piyush Goyal announces 80% licensing fee concession for women entrepreneurs
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, has announced an 80 percent concession for women entrepreneurs and 50 percent for MSMEs in fees for licenses granted by the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO), according to an official statement issued on Thursday.
Accordingly, the Minister has directed PESO to formulate guidelines in consultation with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) for creating a template of safety measures allowing retail outlets of petrol pumps to function in cases where there is habitation within 30-50 metres.
Goyal said the compliance of the petroleum and explosives industry must be balanced with public safety.
Piyush Goyal also said that the QR code for cylinders is incorporated in the draft Gas Cylinders Rules and a final notification will be out soon.
He added that a committee will be formed to study if a licence for explosives, transport, and manufacturing can be given for 10 years. A committee will also examine the issue regarding increasing the validity of licence to 10 years as all licences except for explosives are given for 10 years.
To further streamline processes, the Minister said efforts must be made to involve third-party inspection agencies in more areas, adding that online permission modules will be developed by PESO for a few areas that are yet offline.
Goyal also directed that the process for filling up vacancies in PESO must be expedited.
Petrol pump licences are issued in Form XIV of Petroleum Rules 2002 whereas licence for CNG dispensing facilities within petroleum retail outlets are issued in Form G of Gas Cylinders Rules.
As both the licences are under different Rules and Acts, amendments in the licence in Form XIV are also required to be made after the grant of licence for CNG facilities in the same petrol pump.
This amendment will be dispensed with by making required changes in the modules. This will reduce the compliance burden and the workload of PESO.
Minister Goyal chaired a stakeholder consultation on Thursday to get feedback from petroleum, explosives, fireworks, and other related industry leaders, aimed at enhancing efficiency in the functioning of PESO.
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