The Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) on Friday postponed its planned nationwide strike after receiving assurances from the government that dealers’ profit margins on petroleum products would be increased.
Speaking at a press conference in Karachi, PPDA Chairman Malik Khuda Baksh said the petroleum minister had held a half-hour telephone conversation with him and assured the association that its margin demand would be addressed.
“The petroleum minister has indicated an increase of Rs1.34 in the profit margin after obtaining special approval from the prime minister,” Baksh said.
He said an Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meeting had been convened on Thursday following the petroleum minister’s intervention.
According to the PPDA chairman, the government is also forming a special committee to consider the oil marketing companies’ demand for abolition of the quota system.
“The government has accepted two of our important points,” Baksh said, adding that the association would continue seeking maximum relief for the petroleum industry.
He also said the government had appreciated petroleum dealers for “always standing with the state.”
The announcement means petrol stations will remain open, averting the indefinite nationwide shutdown that dealers had earlier planned over their demands.