70,000 petrol pumps come out in protest against oil companies demanding higher commission

Today, about 70,000 petrol pumps across the country have come out in protest against the oil companies for increasing the commission on petrol and diesel. The owners of these petrol pumps have announced not to buy petrol and diesel from Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) on May 31.

Pump owners say that after increasing the retail prices of petrol and diesel, petroleum companies are making huge profits, but there has been no increase in the commission of dealers. On Tuesday, about 70,000 petrol pump owners in 24 states of the country are protesting against increase in fuel commission. They have announced not to buy oil from companies for a day.

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Customers to not have any problem

This protest is being organised by the petrol dealer organisations of the states. Anurag Jain, President, Delhi Petrol Dealers Association said, this protest will have no impact on retail sales and customers. Petrol pumps have stock for two days. Therefore, they will sell petrol and diesel to retail customers on Tuesday as well. Its effect will be limited to purchases from companies only.

Protests in these states

Petrol dealers in 24 states are joining in the protest. This includes Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Sikkim besides north Bengal and many dealers from Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Commission rate not changed since 5 years

Dealer organisations allege that under the agreement between Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) and dealers, the margin for dealers should be changed every 6 months, but there has been no change since the year 2017. This is when the retail price of petrol and diesel has almost doubled during this period.

Not only this, during this time the dealers also had to invest double the capital for the business, for which they took more loans and now the interest is also higher. Oil will not be bought from companies at 400 petrol pumps in Delhi today while 6,500 pumps in Maharashtra.

What is the commission dealers get?

Petrol pump dealers currently get a commission of Rs 2.90 per litre on retail sale of petrol and Rs 1.85 on diesel. Anurag Jain said, in 2017, companies had increased the commission by Re 1 per litre, out of which 40 paise was deducted in the name of license fee.

"In these five years, we have been burdened with all the expenses including electricity bill, salary of employees and bank charges. So now we have adopted this path of protest, so that the companies consider our demands," Anurag Jain, President, Delhi Petrol Dealers Association said.