Petrol pump dealers defer nationwide strike; govt to consider demands

Petrol pump dealers have deferred a nationwide strike from Monday after Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy has agreed to consider their demands that include levying charges for providing facilities such as air pressure checking, drinking water and toilets, dealers Federation said.

The Federation of All India Petroleum Traders (FAIPT), which claims to represent about 40,000 petrol pump operators in the country, had called for a day-long strike on Monday and a nationwide indefinite strike from month-end to demand higher commission on sale of petrol and diesel.

Federation general secretary Ajay Bansal said Reddy agreed to consider the demands after two-rounds of discussions with Reddy on April 19 and 20. "Various issues/demands concerning petrol pump dealers were discussed at length," he said.

Reddy, he said, agreed to consider implementation of the Apurva Chandra Committee recommendation on dealer commission.

The minister also agreed to consider the implementation of the recommendation that "all free facilities at petrol pumps like air, toilet, filtered cold drinking water will be chargeable", Bansal said.

The panel had suggested that petrol pumps should be allowed to charge Rs 2 to fill air in a two wheeler, Rs 5 in a car and Rs 20 in a truck or a bus. Dealers should also be allowed to charge Rs 2 from customers for using toilets and some nominal charges for drinking water, it had suggested.

Dealers wanted their commission on petrol be hiked by about 27 paise per litre and diesel by 14 paise a litre as recommended by the committee. Currently, dealers get a fixed commission of Rs 1.49 per litre on petrol and Rs 0.91 a litre on diesel.

The recommendation on dealer commission would be considered by the government, Bansal said. (PTI)