Petroleum dealers on Thursday announced a countrywide strike for an indefinite period starting Saturday (July 22), demanding their profit margin to be more than doubled to five per cent from the current level of 2.4pc.

After the strike was announced, Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) Information Secretary Noman Ali Butt told Dawn.com that “petrol stations will remain closed until our demands are met”.

In a press release, PPDA Chairman Abdul Sami Khan said the consumer price index had increased to 38pc while electricity and other utility rates had also spiked due to the Kibor rate.

Citing the aforementioned increase in rates, Khan said the dealer’s commission on petrol had completely evaporated. “Petroleum dealers that are the backbone of the country with a network of 12,000 have been completely ignored by the government.”

He highlighted that his association was the largest in the country with more than 10,000 members. “We had an agreement in 1999 that we will receive a five pc profit margin which was decreased to four pc in 2004.”

Khan said the incumbent government then changed the profit margin to Rs6 per litre, which left them with approximately 2.4 pc profit margin, and was not acceptable to the petroleum dealers.

“They told us that the profit margin will be deliberated upon later but then due to an increase in electricity, utilities, labour and the Kibor rate, the profit of small petrol pumps completely vanished,” the chairman said.

“We approached state minister Musadik Malik and published our appeals in all the main newspapers. He promised us to visit in Karachi and that’s why we did not take any major step but he did not visit.”

The PPDA chairman said that their second major problem was smuggled Iranian petrol and diesel being sold freely due to which their sales dropped at least 30 pc.

“Unfortunately, we will now be shutting down petrol pumps throughout the country on July 22 around 6am,” Khan said.