MULTAN, August 26: The Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Associations has criticised the recent reduction in their commission announced by the government and petroleum companies and threatened to suspend their business from Aug 30.

Speaking at a press conference here on Sunday, Malik Muhammad Majeed, the provincial president of the association, and other office-bearers said despite an agreement made with the association in 1996, the government and oil companies had hit them twice and now their fixed profit ratio had been decreased from five per cent to a meagre two per cent. They threatened to levy service charges to meet their expenditure if the decision was not withdrawn immediately.

They said inflated utility bills, new federal and local taxes and dearness were already striking them hard. They said the recent decision had hampered their trading as it had become very difficult for them to continue running the business against a lesser profit margin.

They demanded immediate restoration of five per cent profit margin. They also decried forced sale of mobil oil to dealers by oil companies and demanded reopening of the sealed petrol pumps in Lahore.