Petro dealers hold ‘no purchase’ stir

Trichy: Petroleum dealers association in the Tiruchirappalli region on Tuesday staged a ‘no purchase’ protest condemning the Union government’s reduction of excise duty on petrol and diesel without prior information. Although they welcomed the move to cut excise duty on fuel, they said the government should make such a decision effective from a particular day so that they could plan their procurement and sales to avoid monetary loss.
The association said that the sudden reduction in excise duty on November 4, 2021, and May 21, 2022, has caused losses to petrol bunk operators ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh an outlet.As the excise duty would be high while purchasing, such immediate reduction in it would reflect on sales at petrol bunks. They have suffered two major financial setbacks within just six months. “Only dealers will be affected if the excise duty is reduced suddenly because we are procuring petrol and diesel only after paying excise duty,” association secretary G Ramesh said.
The dealers said that the no-purchase protest did not affect public movement as all fuel stations were operated with the available stock. They wanted oil companies to compensate the loss incurred by them. The protesters also pitched for revision in dealership commission. “Since 2017, the commission was not increased. We are managing the operational cost only through the commission. For the past five years, we have been operating petrol bunks at a loss,” Ramesh added. The dealers threatened to intensify their protests if their demands are not met.