Rourkela, March 28: Petrol pumps in the city are strictly implementing the "No helmet No petrol" rule - a decision taken by the authorities on Saturday.

Following several incidents of heated arguments at petrol pumps, the authorities have also posted one constable each at the 15 petrol pumps in the city and four in the outskirts. The move had been made to prevent untoward incidents.

On Sunday itself, Rs 23,000 was collected through challans out of which Rs 17,000 was collected from the gas stations.

"We had to bear the ire of the public since many people said there was no public notice or awareness drive about the move. We found it difficult to handle such people," said a petrol pump owner.

Rourkela superintendent of police Anirudh Singh had a different opinion on the new rule. "Whether you are going to your office or to the petrol pump, you are supposed to wear a helme. We are simply enforcing the rule," said Singh.

He said cops would also make sure that drivers and passengers sitting in the front seats must wear seat belts.

On March 2, the district administration had a meeting with the representatives of Sundargarh District Petroleum Dealers' Association (SDPDA), where representatives from other departments were also present. It was decided to implement the "No helmet No petrol" scheme, which practised in many other places in the state. The rule was supposed to be implemented from March 15 but was deferred by a few days.

SDPDA president Nirmal Routray said: "We welcome the decision and have no problem in implementing it as this will reduce chances of serious head injuries"

The secretary of SDPDA, Prabhat Tiberwal, said: "The decision was taken to avoid road accidents. The pros and cons of the decision were discussed threadbare before implementing it."

Kartik Pattnaik, who works at a city-based college said: "This is a laudable decision on the part of the administration and I support it."