Puneites, fill up your petrol tanks over the weekend

Stocking up on fuel over the weekend might be a wise move as Pune is likely to face a shortage of petrol on Monday and Tuesday, with petroleum dealers in the city preparing for a no-purchase protest.

On October 1 and 2, fuel pumps will not replenish their stock of fuel. This means that sale would take place only till stocks last. If this too fails to draw attention of the government, petrol pump dealers have decided to work only in one shift i.e. 8 hours a day within city limits to reduce manpower and electricity costs. As a result, customers would have to plan their fuel needs accordingly.

In an emailed press release, Ravi Shinde, secretary of Confederation of Indian Petroleum Dealers, said the petrol dealers had hoped that recent hike in fuel rates would take into account an increase in dealers’ margins to offset losses due to increased evaporation losses, increase in wages and electricity costs over the years.

“There is no other business that gives less return on investment with increase in working capital as a petrol pump. Now, ways to cut working cost has gone beyond the realm of sustainability,” said Shinde.

Petrol dealers said that from time to time, the petroleum ministry and oil companies have made many promises, but failed to live up to it. The promises include implementation of the Apoorva Chandra Committee report that was supposed to recommend ways of improving the operation of petrol pumps and make it more sustainable for the pump owners, increasing the dealer’s margin to 5% and restricting the proliferation of petrol pumps.

Hence, as a final warning to the government, the petrol dealers have hit upon the idea of a ‘no-purchase’ strike on October 1 and 2.