After petroleum dealers, LPG sellers also call strike

KARACHI: A day after petroleum dealers announced strike, sellers of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) on Friday also called for a countrywide strike against the sale of the commodity at ‘expensive prices’, ARY News reported.

In a statement, Chairman LPG Industries Association Karachi Irfan Khokhar said that the distributors will observe a shutter down strike across the country from August 5.

Khokhar pointed out that LPG was not being sold anywhere in the country at the fixed official price, adding that due to black marketeering, the gas is being sold at higher prices.

He alleged that top officers of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) were behind the sale of ‘expensive gas’. He added that the price per kg is Rs178, but LPG was being sold at Rs220 to Rs350 per kg, announcing to move court against it.

The announcement comes just a day after petroleum dealers in Pakistan announced an indefinite strike, starting from July 22 (Saturday).

According to the official notice issued by PPDA Chairman Abdul Sami Khan, the association demanded the government to increase the distributors’ commission.

The notice added that the association sent a letter to the Minister of Petroleum, Musadik Malik, to bring this and several other issues to his attention.

Musadik Malik reaches Karachi

Earlier in the day, State Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik paid an emergency visit to Karachi and reached Pakistan State Oil (PSO) headquarters to hold talks with the petroleum dealers.

A delegation of petroleum dealers has also reached the PSO headquarters. Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) Chairman Samiullah Khan is leading the delegation.

The delegation held negotiations with the state minister to increase dealers margin and steps to curb smuggling of diesel and petrol from Iran.

During the talks, Malik offered Rs2.65 per litre hike to the dealers margin, however, the dealers insisted on the Rs5 per litre increase in their commission. The negotiations continued for 1.5 hours, however, they remained inconclusive so far.

The current dealers’ margin is Rs6 per litre on the petroleum products, whereas, they demanded to make another hike to the margin by Rs5.