Petrol, diesel may be hard to come by today

The two-day ‘No purchase agitation’ by petroleum dealers is likely to cause some inconvenience to motorists on Wednesday morning, as the city petroleum dealers claimed that most of the pumps have run out of stock because of the agitation.

The two-day ‘No purchase agitation’ by petroleum dealers is likely to cause some inconvenience to motorists on Wednesday morning, as the city petroleum dealers claimed that most of the pumps have run out of stock because of the agitation.

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However, stocks will be replenished by late afternoon on Wednesday, dealers said.

Petroleum dealers from across the nation didn’t purchase petrol and diesel on October 1 and 2 demanding implementation of former union secretary Apurva Chandra committee’s report, which recommends that dealers’ margins for commission be increased.

“We are demanding implementation of Apurva chandra committee report which will increase our commission approximately from Rs1.60 to Rs2.11 in petrol and from Rs0.92 to Rs1.31 in diesel. In addition, several changes are recommended and we want these to be implemented, too,” said Ravi Shinde, general secretary of ‘Confederation of Indian Petroleum Dealers’ (CIPD).

As an impact of the agitation, the dealers claimed that 240 petrol pumps in the city were affected. However, most motorists said they did not have any trouble getting petrol for their vehicles until the evening, while some complained about supply shortages after some pumps put up ‘out-of-stock’ boards.

When contacted, Shinde said “Our aim was not to affect motorists. We wanted to get the attention of oil companies, which we have managed by not purchasing fuel for two days. Besides, motorists may find it hard to get petrol on Wednesday morning as most of the pumps started reporting that they are out of stock from Tuesday afternoon onwards.”