Nationwide Petrol Strike Called Off
The Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) has announced in a press conference to call off its strike on 18th July after successful negotiations with the government. All the petrol pumps will stay open and provide services as usual.
The PPDA has successfully negotiated with the government to increase its profit margin. There will be Rs. 7 margin on Premium Motor Gasoline as well Rs. 7 margin on High Speed Diesel for petroleum dealers. This is a step towards progress to keep the situation regarding petroleum supply in the country up and running.
Previous Notifications
The PPDA had announced a countrywide strike in the beginning of July to protest against their decreased profit margin. The actual reason behind the protest was rising prices of petroleum products as well as electricity. The petrol dealers objected that the overall expenses left very little profit margin for them at the end of the day. Another reason was the lack of petroleum supply in Karachi and other cities due to stagnant rain water. Under such conditions, the dealer claimed, it was impossible to carry on operations .
The PPDA had initially warned the government of a countrywide strike due to rising petrol prices. In a meeting on July 2nd, Chairman PPDA Abdul Sami Khan had discussed that the petrol price hikes and increased cost of electricity had left minimal dealers margin. This decreased profit margin was forcing petrol dealers to shut down their pumps. The PPDA had demanded to have at least a 6 percent dealer margin for the dealers to continue their businesses.
