Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) has demanded that the profit made by petrol pumps per litre should be raised from the existing 2.75% to 6%.
If the government accepts this demand, the profit made by pumps on petrol will reach Rs8.75 per litre and Rs8.5 on diesel.
As per reports, apart from diesel and petrol, separate oil marketing companies also make a profit of Rs2.97 per litre.
Traffic jams were witnessed in all major cities across Pakistan and long queues were seen at petrol stations on Wednesday as citizens rushed to fill their vehicles with petrol and diesel ahead of the nationwide strike called by Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) which said fuel stations will remain closed in the country starting Thursday.
The PPDA announced a nationwide strike starting from Thursday till an unspecified period to demand an increase in the margin on the sale of petroleum products.
As a result, the nationwide strike by petroleum dealers triggered panic buying which led to long queues, brawls and traffic jams being witnessed at petrol stations across the country.
Social media was swamped with videos of people stuck in long queues outside fuel stations, while #petrol trended on Twitter.
The Petroleum Dealers Association secretary said, “Petrol pumps across the country will remain closed today”. He added, “The government did not accept our demands. Till the government does not increase the dealers’ margin to 6%, we will not negotiate with them”.
He accused the government of providing assurances that dealers’ demands will be fulfilled but failed to do so.
