Midnight citizens swarm over talk of running out of petrol-diesel; The pump driver made a ‘hey’ appeal
Hingoli: Operators of petrol and diesel pumps across the state on Tuesday called for a halt to fuel purchases. Against this backdrop, rumors of sudden depletion of diesel stocks at petrol pumps in Hingoli had caused a huge rush of diesel consumers at pumps in the city and talukas at 1 am. This led to long queues of vehicles at petrol pumps.
Fearing that they would not get diesel for the next few days, many people brought cans of water from home to the petrol pump to fill up with diesel. However, the petrol pump operators have clarified that there will be shortage of fuel, which is just a rumor. It has also said that there will be no shortage of diesel as the Petrol Union has stopped buying diesel for a day.
Why exactly the movement called?
Petrol, diesel, CNG pump owners are paid commission by the fuel sales company. At present, the commission for petrol and diesel is between Rs 2.60 and Rs 3.20. But the pump owners are demanding an increase in the cost. That is why the pump owners have decided to stop buying on Tuesday. Under this, they will not buy fuel from the company. This has been informed by Ravi Shinde, Advisor, Mumbai Petroleum Dealers Association, which is affiliated with Phampeda.
Fuel selling companies have recently increased the commission of LPG cylinder dealers. The commissions of those distributors have also increased along with the rising rates of CNG. But the commission of petrol and diesel pump owners has not been increased in five years. In these five years, salaries of employees, cost of electricity consumption, inflation, etc. have all increased drastically. According to the Ministry of Petroleum, the commission should be increased as the cost increases. That is why we are carrying out this agitation for this demand, ‘said Ravi Shinde.
