Petrol pumps strike: Dealers defer countrywide strike of Petrol till Monday

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21st Jul, 2023. 09:24 pm
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Petrol pumps strike: On Friday Petroleum dealers decided to defer a nationwide strike they initially planned to begin tomorrow for two more days after a meeting with Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik.

Starting tomorrow, fuel station operators are going on an indefinite strike. They want their profit margin to increase from 2.4% to 5%, which is more than double the current level.

“Petrol stations will remain closed until our demands are met,” Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) Information Secretary Noman Ali Butt reportedly.

In a press release, the association mentioned that operators’ businesses were affected by high interest rates and inflation. They also requested an increase in the dealership margin.

The PPDA, which says it has more than 10,000 members, added that sales had slumped by 30 per cent due to Iranian fuel being smuggled into the country.

“We had an agreement in 1999 that we will receive a five pc profit margin which was decreased to four pc in 2004,” the press release read, adding that the incumbent government had then changed the profit margin to Rs6 per litre, which left them with approximately 2.4 pc profit margin, and was not acceptable to the petroleum dealers.

“They told us that the profit margin will be deliberated upon later but then due to an increase in electricity, utilities, labour and the Kibor rate, the profit of small petrol pumps completely vanished,” the press release stated.

“We approached state minister Musadik Malik and published our appeals in all the main newspapers. He promised us to visit in Karachi and that’s why we did not take any major step but he did not visit,” it added.

Later, PPDA Chairman Abdul Sami Khan said in another statement that the minister of state for petroleum had called him and they would be meeting at 4pm today.

After the meeting, the association released another statement signed by the minister, the PPDA chairman, and the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority Chairman, Masroor Khan.

The statement mentioned that they all agreed to raise the dealer’s margin by a reasonable amount. The exact increase will be determined using data accepted by everyone involved. The new margin will be announced in the next forty-eight hours, specifically on Monday, July 24, 2023.

“In view of this understanding the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association strike is deferred till Monday, July 24, 2023.”

Petrol pumps strike: Dealers defer countrywide strike of Petrol till Monday

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