Nov 22, 2021: The Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) has announced a nationwide strike on November 25 over the sale of petrol at “low profit margins”, as per reports in local media.

A spokesman for the association said that all petrol pumps across the country would remain closed on Thursday, November 25. “We have no choice but to go on strike as the government has failed to meet the November 17 deadline to meet our demands,” the spokesman said, adding that on Thursday in Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Petrol pumps will also remain closed.

He said the strike could last for an indefinite period if the government continued to ignore the association’s demands and give it “false consolation”.

This is the second time the association has called for a strike in three weeks. They made a similar announcement on November 5, but withdrew after the government team agreed to increase the margin on sales of petroleum products by 6% in a few days. The meeting also agreed to form a committee headed by Secretary Petroleum Dr. Arshad Mahmood to ensure implementation of the agreement in the next 10 days with the approval of the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) and the Federal Cabinet.

However, no progress has been made since then.

PPDA Chairman Abdul Sami Khan said that petroleum dealers are in trouble due to high cost of business and low margins. He said that the government guarantees a margin of only 2% on the sale of fuel oil in view of increase in electricity rates. “We demand the government to revoke the licenses of our petrol pumps,” he said.

“With the revocation of the license, about 50% of the petrol pumps will be closed permanently because no one will re-apply for the license,” he added.

He demanded immediate increase in the ex-depot price in the margins of HSD and MS dealers without imposing burden on the common man and without increasing the prices of petroleum products.

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