City petrol stations remain shut in protest, motorists face inconvenience

Ludhiana, August 18

Petrol pumps in Ludhiana remained shut today as fuel dealers had recently announced to close these on Sundays from August 18 in protest. They had been demanding increase in their commission.

They rued that the commission had not been increased by the Central Government and oil companies for the past eight years.

As the Petrol Pump Dealers’ Association here had decided to shut fuel stations every Sunday, starting from August 18, the majority of the pumps were closed today. Consumers who were unaware of the decision of the dealers had to return empty handed from such stations. They were seen searching for any pump operating on Sunday and a few of them found some stations open despite the strike call given by the association.

At present, the commission for the dealers was fixed at 2 per cent per litre while they were demanding at least 5 per cent commission.

Punjab Petrol Pump Dealers’ Association chairman Ashok Sachdeva said fuel prices have increased manifold over the years but their commission remains the same. A petrol pump dealer from the Ferozepur Road area said for the past several months, the association had been pleading to oil companies to increase the commission but nothing had been done and they were left with no other option but to adopt the path of protest.

Sukhdev Singh said he was not aware of the strike and when he reached a fuel station, he found it closed and had to cancel his plan of going out of station. Dhinkar Kumar, an auto-rickshaw driver, said his whole day would be wasted as he could not work without fuel.

Meanwhile, long queues were seen at petrol stations that remained open despite the strike call. People were seen making a beeline to such pumps to get tanks of their vehicles full.

“My friend told me that the petrol station near Fountain Chowk was opened, hence, I went there to get my vehicle tank full as I had to go somewhere in an emergency. Had the pump not being opened, I would have been left with no other option but to go by public transport,” said Ashish, a resident of Upkar Nagar. — TNS