Petrol pump owners announce nationwide shutdown after talks with govt fail

The All Pakistan Petrol Pumps Owners Association (APPPOA) on Tuesday announced a nationwide shutdown of petrol pumps from Tuesday night after talks with the government over its demands ended without a breakthrough. Amid volatility in global oil prices following renewed hostilities in the Middle East, the government last week switched to a daily fuel price review mechanism. Under the new system, daily prices are based on a seven-day average of international market rates to align with international standards. Addressing a press conference, the association's chairman, Humayun Khan, said representatives of the All Pakistan Petrol Pump Association from all four provinces, as well as Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir, had met Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik and presented two key demands. Read: Govt raises petrol price by Rs4.93, HSD by Rs7.15 per litre for July 22 “Our two main demands were that our commission should be converted to a percentage-based system and that the daily revision of fuel prices should be abolished and reverted to a monthly mechanism,” he said. He said the talks had failed to resolve the association's concerns. “Our problems remain unresolved. If you look at the situation with the oil marketing companies (OMCs), dealers across Pakistan are currently going through extremely difficult circumstances,” he said. Criticising the government's decision to revise petroleum product prices on a daily basis to align them with international rates, Khan said dealers across Pakistan had been incurring losses for the past two to three months. “The price was increased yesterday and we are hearing that it will be increased again today. The government has shifted the burden onto petrol pumps, OMCs and refineries to escape public criticism, saying it is no longer their responsibility,” he said, adding that the authorities were misleading the public by increasing prices every day. “The public understands this very well. Whether you increase prices by Rs100 at once or by Rs5, Rs10 or Rs20 every day, the result is the same,” Khan added. The chairman said the association had urged the government to resolve the issue in a manner that was fair to both the public and petrol pump owners but, despite every effort, “we have come to realise that this government does not want to resolve the problems of the business community.” He announced a nationwide shutdown, including in Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir, adding that the association was also in contact with oil tanker owners, who would soon announce their own strike. Also Read: Govt shifts to daily POL pricing amid global headwinds  He urged the government to listen to the concerns of the business community, describing petrol pump owners as the biggest stakeholders in the petroleum industry. He lamented that whenever the government formulated a policy, petrol pump owners were not taken into consultation. He said the shutdown would continue until all of the association's demands were accepted. Earlier, talks between the government and the association failed to produce a breakthrough, with both sides ending the meeting without any progress. In a video message, association leader Nauman Butt said negotiations with the petroleum minister had failed to yield any positive outcome, while discussions on dealers' margins and the implementation of daily fuel price revisions also remained inconclusive. He said the association had decided to shut petrol pumps across the country from midnight on July 22 and would continue the nationwide strike until its demands were accepted. The association directed all petrol pump owners to participate in the strike fully and appealed to them to keep their outlets closed from midnight on July 22. Read More: Daily fuel revisions trigger commuting chaos Meanwhile, the Pakistan Goods Transport Alliance announced its support for the strike called by the All Pakistan Petrol Pump Association. In a statement, the alliance's president, Malik Shehzad Awan, urged the federal government to accept what he described as the legitimate demands of the All Pakistan Petrol Pump Association and the Petroleum Dealers Association. Awan said transporters, petrol pump owners and the dealers' association were heading towards a nationwide strike due to what he called the federal government's flawed policies. He also rejected the government's decision to revise petroleum product prices daily. “The strike by the All Pakistan Petrol Pump Owners Association and the Petroleum Dealers Association will bring our transport operations to a halt,” he said. He urged the federal government to “come to its senses” and make decisions after taking stakeholders into confidence. Awan also said the federal and provincial governments were providing no relief to goods transporters.

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