Petrol pump owners call off strike

A last-minute decision to call off the strike by petrol pump owners paved the way for daily revision of fuel prices from Friday at 6 am.

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the government agreed to change the timing to 6 am instead of midnight and the owners agreed to the proposal. “Instead of changing rates at midnight, it has been decided that prices should change before the start of business. Daily prices will change from 6 am,” said Pradhan. Pump owners had threatened to go on a strike against the dynamic pricing policy from Thursday over concerns of inadequate infrastructure to revise prices every midnight.

The country’s largest fuel retailer, the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), has assured that 90% of the supplies will reach dealers within 24 hours. This supply and distribution mechanism ensures that the impact of increasing/decreasing price trends on working capital is minimised, IOC said in a statement. Indian Oil will set up 87 control rooms across the country for addressing technical glitches/system issues that may arise at the dealers’ end. Pradhan told reporters that practical difficulties have been addressed. The IOC said it has also rechecked the mobile numbers and email data of its over 25,000 dealers to ensure that timely information on the effective prices at a predesignated time (8 pm) the previous night reaches the right person.