Aizawl: The Mizoram govt on Friday lifted the month-long austerity measures on fuel consumption with the General Administration Department (GAD) withdrawing the office memorandum (OM) issued on May 19, which had designated every Wednesday as “No Official Vehicle Day”.The GAD ‘s OM stated that the restriction issued a month before has been lifted in view of the agreement reached between the US and Iran as well as the easing of tensions in West Asia.With the new OM, “No Official Vehicle Day” on Wednesdays and other fuel conservation measures for government employees are now discontinued.The OM issued on May 19 had mandated that 20% of the workforce in each department will work from home. Department heads were instructed to prepare duty rosters to ensure essential public services continued without disruption. However, work from home was not extended to departments involved in medical and emergency services, water supply, power supply, disaster response, transport services and law and order duties.It had instructed all departments to conduct meetings via video conferencing to reduce official travel expenses and fuel consumption.Meanwhile, after the increase of oil prices by oil marketing companies in the country, petrol price has continued to remain high in the state, with no expected decrease in the near future. Demands have been raised by the opposition parties to decrease VAT rates on diesel and petrol as well as lifting of fuel cess, which has been in effect since Sept 2024.
