Petrol dealers to go ahead with strike from July 5 in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) on Wednesday introduced that its talks with provincial and federal governments and different stakeholders had hit a deadlock, leaving them without a alternative however to head for a national closure on July 5 (tomorrow).

They requested that we end the strike and offered to fix the problem, but we are unable to postpone the strike in exchange for their promises. Speaking, PPDA Chairman Abdul Sami Khan remarked.

He clarified that despite having met nearly every government stakeholder—including those he was unable to identify—including the finance minister, the chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue, the head of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, the petroleum secretary, and members of the advisory council for oil marketing companies, dealers’ complaints had gone unanswered.

“Until the ‘unfair’ turnover tax is removed, there will be no further discussions with the government,” Mr. Khan declared, adding that the pumps would begin to shut off on Thursday. He claimed that the double taxes was unlawful in addition to being harsh.

More than 13,000 gas stations would close starting at 6 a.m. on July 5, according to Mr Khan, and the walkout would last for several more days if the demands are not fulfilled and communicated. He pleaded with store owners and managers to hold onto their inventory for July 4.

In contrast, the petroleum division established a monitoring cell to keep an eye on the fuel supply situation and communicate with relevant parties during the petroleum dealers’ strike call.
The monitoring cell’s focal personnel were chosen by the representatives of the petroleum division, Ogra, and oil marketing enterprises.

The Petroleum Division has again sent letters to AMK to ensure that adequate stocks of petroleum products are available at company-owned or operated and other similar OMC locations to avoid supply chain disruptions and inconvenience to the public and industry..The dealers are protesting against the imposition of turnover tax in the recent budget. They argue that outlets were already paying advance fixed withholding tax at Rs1.4 per litre (about 12pc of dealer commission) as final income tax and had been subjected to double taxation in the shape of 0.5pc advance turnover tax now because of definitional issue of ‘dealers and distributors’.

Earlier on Tuesday, the FBR chairman assured the retailers that the sales tax will be removed. However, it was a long process. According to the oil minister, the VAT was established in 2024-2025 by the financial law, which was approved by the parliament and approved by the president. It took a legislative process to reverse this..