The Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) has announced a 24-hour symbolic strike across the country, under which petrol pumps across the country will remain closed from 6 am on Thursday to 6 am on Friday.
The association leaders demanded that the 30-day process for fixing prices be maintained.
They warned that if the government does not accept their demands despite the one-day strike, a further course of action will be announced.
Addressing a press conference along with other officials on Wednesday, PPDA Chief Advisor Malik Khuda Bakhsh said that the government’s decision to re-fix the prices of petroleum products after every 24 hours is unacceptable.
It may be recalled that while addressing a news conference in Islamabad last week, Federal Minister for Petroleum Ali Pervaiz Malik had announced that the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) would henceforth determine oil prices on a daily basis instead of every seven days and it would be published on its website.
Malik Khuda Bakhsh said that the price changes of petroleum products should be made on a monthly basis and not every 24 hours.
He said that the profit margin of dealers has not been increased for the last two years, so a permanent 8 percent commission should be fixed for dealers.
He also demanded the abolition of the allotment policy of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) and ensuring uninterrupted supply of petroleum products.
Malik Khuda Bakhsh further said that the charges imposed by banks and point of sale (POS) systems on card and digital payments should be allowed to be collected from consumers.
They said that the current fuel allotment policy of OMCs is unfair, which should be abolished and the fuel supply system should be improved.
On this occasion, the organization’s Sindh President Haji Amir Khan said that dealers have been struggling to increase their margins for the last two years and the government should immediately fulfill its promise of eight percent dealer margin.
Vice Chairman Tariq Hassan said that the association has put forward five demands before the government and PPDA will not give up on any of them.
The petroleum dealers demanded that their legitimate demands be immediately accepted by the government. They warned that if their concerns were not addressed, they would soon announce their future course of action.
It should be noted that the Petroleum Minister, while announcing the price fixing on a daily basis instead of seven days, had admitted that this decision would definitely be ‘painful’ but it was necessary to keep the state strong. Why was the ‘painful’ decision made to set the price on a daily basis?
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