The one-day strike by the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) on Thursday shows that petrol is a weapon of power in the hands of dealers, who can use it to jam the country at their will. Thankfully, the association has called off its nationwide strike as they have nothing else with which to exploit the government and the public, as the government has agreed to increase their profit margin by 99 paisa per litre. If that is the case, why the government let the strike drama happen and let the public suffer? It should have accepted the demand days or weeks ago and let the routine life go on uninterrupted. The strike, which had been planned weeks ago, and propagated well to warn the government of the consequences again and again, was countrywide and damning. Even before the actual strike day, its impact was visible. A panic buying had triggered all cities, resulting in long queues at almost every petrol pump a day ago. The government came up with some remedial actions, forcing the state-run petroleum companies’ petrol pumps to do the business as usual on the strike day, but the very few pumps were unable to cater to public needs. Thankfully, the painful day is over now.
The PPDA demanded their commission be increased to Rs4.90 from Rs3.91 per litre, that makes almost a Re1 increase per litre. They say that just like other segments of life, they have also been under the crushing effects of inflation, and have faced difficulties to run the business with the existing commission. The recent back-to-back increase in petroleum prices had left the government unable to add dealers’ commission in the price mechanism. Now when the government has accepted the PPDA demands, the public will have to suffer the consequences as the Petroleum Division of the Ministry of Energy has announced that “all stakeholders appreciated the Petroleum Division’s proposal for enhancement of 99 paisa in the existing margin of petrol i.e., Rs3.91/litre and 83 paisa in the existing margin of high-speed diesel i.e., Rs3.30/litre”. So, at the end of the day, it is the general consumer, who will have to bear the brunt of the recent increase. Petrol prices in the international market have been fluctuating from $82 to $85 in recent weeks, which have broken the back of Pakistani public. Unless the prices come down drastically, there is no respite in sight for the public.
