Govt assures margin increase
\nKARACHI
\nThe Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) on Friday announced the postponement of its planned nationwide strike after the government assured it of an increase in dealers\u2019 profit margins on petroleum products.
\nDuring a press conference in Karachi, PPDA Chairman Malik Khuda Baksh said the petroleum minister had spoken to him by telephone for half an hour and assured him that the dealers\u2019 profit margin would be increased.
\n\u201cThe petroleum minister has indicated an increase of Rs1.34 in the profit margin after obtaining special approval from the prime minister,\u201d he said.
\nBaksh said an Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meeting had been convened on Thursday following the petroleum minister\u2019s intervention. A special committee was also being formed to consider the oil marketing companies\u2019 demand to abolish the quota system, he added.
\n\u201cThe government has accepted two of our important points,\u201d Baksh said, adding that the association would seek maximum benefits for the petroleum industry from the government. He said the government had also appreciated the dealers for \u201calways standing with the state\u201d. On the issue of daily pricing of petroleum products, Baksh said the government\u2019s proposed solution would be implemented in three stages and would take around two weeks. \u201cThe government has accepted our demand for a minimum period for determining prices on a daily basis,\u201d he said, adding that the dealers had proposed fixing prices for one month. \u201cThe government may agree to determining prices for seven days,\u201d he added.
\nPPDA Vice Chairman Tariq Hassan said the government had withheld the dealers\u2019 inflation-linked adjustment of Rs1.34 per litre for the past four years, amounting to $50 million.
\nHe said the profit margin would now increase from Rs8.84 per litre to Rs10 per litre. \u201cThe nationwide strike planned by petroleum dealers is being postponed,\u201d Baksh said.
\nOn Thursday, the PPDA said that negotiations with the government had failed, prompting petroleum dealers to begin an indefinite nationwide strike from August 15.
\nAccording to a statement by Baksh, the government refused during the negotiations to change the system of daily adjustments in petroleum product prices. However, it assured the dealers that it would discuss an increase of Rs1.34 in their margin, subject to approval by the federal cabinet.
\n\u201cIn view of the federal petroleum minister\u2019s behaviour, the petroleum dealers\u2019 delegation immediately left for Karachi and also called an emergency meeting of its executive committee,\u201d the statement said.
\nIt added that representatives of petroleum dealers remained committed to their decision to begin the strike from Saturday morning.
\nMeanwhile, All Pakistan Goods Transport Alliance President Malik Shahzad Awan said talks between the federal and Sindh governments and the alliance had failed, with transporters vowing to continue their nationwide strike until their demands were accepted and a formal notification was issued.
\n\u201cThe federal government and Sindh government are not serious. Our nationwide strike will continue until our demands are approved,\u201d Awan said, adding that the strike had continued across Pakistan for six days.
\n\u201cWe will not be swayed by any assurances from the federal or provincial governments,\u201d he said. He urged transporters across Pakistan to \u201cremain peaceful and not block roads anywhere\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Govt assures margin increase KARACHI The Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) on Friday announced the postponement of its planned nationwide strike after the government assured it of an increase in dealers\u2019 profit margins on petroleum products. During a press conference in Karachi, PPDA Chairman Malik Khuda Baksh said the petroleum minister had spoken to him …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":101675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101664"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101676,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101664\/revisions\/101676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}