Chairman Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association Abdul Sami Khan has threatened that the government is constantly increasing the prices of petroleum products and the dealers' commission has not been increased for the last 17 years, a meeting with the government on November 3 in Islamabad. If the commission is not increased, petrol pumps across the country will be closed from November 5.
Leaders of the Association Malik Khuda Bakhsh, Tariq Hassan, Raja Anwar, Anwar Kamal, Amir Khan Mehsud, Mahmood Alam Ghauri, Arif Mahmood, Dr Shahzeb Rind, Muhammad Afzal, Saeed Khanji and others from the media at the Karachi Press Club. Talking, Abdul Sami Khan said that we have been trying for a long time to increase our margins but the government and the Ministry of Petroleum are not paying attention to it, due to which we are forced to exercise our legal, moral and sharia right to protest. We are not being heard anywhere, including the Ministry of Petroleum.
He said that it is surprising that on the one hand the government of Pakistan has increased the prices of petroleum products four to five times in two months while on the other hand the commission of petroleum dealers is not being increased. The government has promised to increase the commission by five percent. Which was not implemented, in the current situation the price of everything has increased many times, due to the increase in the prices of petroleum products our daily expenses have increased, electricity bills have gone up Employees Old Age Benefit Institution (EOBI) has also increased its contribution, Workers' Welfare Board has also increased its funds. Given that the annual fees of the government have gone up, sales tax and local taxes have gone up but our commission has not been able to go up since 2004.
Petrol pump owners demanded that the government increase the commission by at least six per cent and that the increase be implemented from this month and not impose any new tax on the people to increase it, nor increase petroleum products. He said that our commission should be increased but our margin should be increased by reducing taxes so that the problems for the people would not increase further. The government should reduce levies and sales tax.
He demanded that the prices of petroleum products should be fixed on a monthly basis to ensure uninterrupted and timely delivery of petroleum products across the country. He appealed to our Prime Minister Imran Khan to appoint a Minister of Petroleum as There has been no regular Minister of Petroleum for three months, which is why Hamad Azhar has been appointed Advisor to Petroleum.
