Petrol pump dealers threaten stir

Hyderabad: The Telangana Petroleum Dealers Association has set a 10-day deadline for the Union government to address their long-pending demands.

The dealers of HP (Hindustan Petroleum), IOC (Indian Oil Corporation) and BP (Bharat Petroleum) have been demanding an increase in the dealers’ commission on fuel (petrol and diesel) sales for the last seven years. The Dealers Association threatened to resort to protest by opening fuel outlets only for 12 hours between 6 am and 6 pm if their demands are not met before the deadline. Indian Oil Corporation Dealers state secretary Anil said: “Apurva Chandra Committee had already recommended to the Centre to enhance dealers" commission and also review the issue every six months so that the retail fuel outlet managements will get relief from the increasing financial burden.”

He told TheHansIndia that the dealers had suffered huge financial crisis during the covid pandemic and also during demonetization period. The dealers were forced to take demonetized currency notes and also asked to pay Income Tax on the notes. Now, the oil company managements are facing certain conditions on the fuel stations which are cost intensive, he added.

Regular maintenance of the petrol pumps, the mandated free air, drinking water supply, washroom facility, payment of timely salaries and dress code to the workers have put heavy burden on the dealers, he said.

But the dealers’ commission remained the same on the sale of petrol, which was sold at Rs 70 seven years ago and at Rs 107 per litre now. “The mounting burden on running filling stations was a major concern for the dealers. On the other hand, the Centre was reducing fuel prices suddenly impacting returns from the sales. Every filling station, he said, maintains 10,000 litres of petrol and 20,000 litres of diesel as stocks. If the Centre slashed the fuel prices, the dealers would have to sell fuels at losses,” the association leader said.

The association leaders said a total of 3,800 petrol pumps were operating in the state. A majority of them are in loss due to increased number of outlets and reduced sales in many areas, he added.