NEW DELHI: On Tuesday, May 31st, about 70,000 petrol pumps across 24 states in the country will refuse to buy gas and diesel from oil marketing companies (OMC) in protest of their commissions not being revised despite rising petrol and diesel prices. A group of state gasoline dealers’ associations has organised the protests.
Anurag Jain, President of the Delhi Petrol Dealers Association, said at a press conference on Monday that the decision is unlikely to affect retail supply to consumers because pumps typically have stock for two days and will continue to sell fuel on Tuesday.
A coalition of state gasoline merchants’ groups has orchestrated the protests. Anurag Jain, President of the Delhi Petrol Dealers Association, said at a press conference on Monday that the decision is unlikely to affect retail supply to consumers because pumps typically keep stock for two days and will sell petrol on Tuesday.
Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, and Sikkim are the states where pumps will stage protests and refrain from purchasing fuel.
The North Bengal Dealers Association, as well as dealers from areas of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, have pledged to participate in the demonstrations. On Tuesday, roughly 400 petrol pumps in the national capital would not sell fuel, while 6,500 stations in Maharashtra will join the protests.
Despite an agreement between OMCs and dealer groups that the dealer margins would be revised every six months, the dealer margins have not been revised since 2017, according to the dealer associations.
“Because fuel prices have nearly quadrupled since 2017, firm working capital has nearly doubled, resulting in more loans and bank interest,” according to a statement.
“Evaporation losses have risen in lockstep with inflation. In addition, overhead costs such as bank fees, electricity bills, and salaries have risen dramatically in the last five years. The OMCs have ignored our repeated requests to modify dealer commissions. By doing so, OMCs are jeopardising the financial viability of their own network “It was stated.
Currently, petrol stations receive a fee of roughly 2.90 cents per litre of gasoline and around 1.85 cents per litre of diesel.
“OMCs keep 40 paise in the name of licence fees,” Jain added, despite the fact that commissions were increased by roughly Re 1 per litre in 2017.” Petrol sellers have also requested compensation for losses incurred as a result of the recent cut in excise duty on gasoline and diesel.
“Dealer associations applaud the federal government’s relief to inhabitants of the country by lowering gasoline and diesel prices. However, the dealers have suffered a significant financial loss as a result of these abrupt changes.
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