Supply of petrol, diesel likely to be affected

Supply of petrol and diesel are likely to take a hit next week, as the petrol station owners have decided to join the all India strike call given by the Federation of All India Petroleum Traders on April 23.

Tamil Nadu Petroleum Dealers' Association, representative body and part of Federation of All India Petroleum Traders spearheading the agitation, said all petrol bunk owners in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry would observe a one-day token strike from the midnight of April 22 to April 23.

"We hope our demands will be met. If it does not happen, we will go for an indefinite strike from midnight of April 29", Association President R Kannan told reporters here.

The petrol pump operators' demands include implementation of the Apoorva Chandra Committee recommendations, he said. The committee has recommended a dealer commission of 0.39 paisa per litre on petrol and 0.17 paisa a litre on diesel.

"But they are offering only 0.27 paisa for petrol and 0.15 paisa for diesel", he said. "We are also against the mushrooming of new petrol pumps by the three oil marketing companies. They are only taking away our profits and sales", he said, adding, in the last eight years the presence of petrol pumps has only "doubled".

Before 2004 there were only about 1200 petrol pumps operating in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, but now it has gone up to over 3000, he said.

According to Association members, there are about 3,100 petrol pumps operating in Tamil Nadu and 300 outlets located in and around Chennai.