Petroleum dealers demand restoration of ‘dynamic pricing’ system for fuels

Vijayawada:   Upping their ante against the Centre for causing a huge loss to them –“nearly Rs 2,000 crore” nation-wide due to the sudden reduction in prices of petrol and diesel, petroleum dealers have sought restoration of the ‘dynamic pricing’ mechanism.

This allows fixing the prices for fuel based on the rates of crude oil in international market.

The Centre recently announced a reduction in excise duty on petrol by Rs 8 a litre and on diesel by Rs 6 a litre. This, in turn, resulted in a dip in petrol price by Rs 9.50 per litre and diesel by Rs 7.38. The slashed prices came into effect from 6am on Sunday. Accordingly, petrol costs Rs 111.74 and diesel Rs 99.49 a litre in Guntur.

Petroleum dealers say they are not against any reduction in the price of fuels and would like the Centre to bring the prices further down. as the commoners are facing hardships.

However, the dealers were silent when the prices were repeatedly raised by the government and they made big money from the existing stocks in the past.

The dealers allege that the Centre stopped implementing the dynamic pricing system for fuels for over two months and is resorting to a ‘hike and reduction’ in the prices at will.

The Centre is enhancing the price of fuels by small amounts ranging from 25 paise to Rs 1 and above per litre while slashing the prices drastically by Rs 7 to 10 and above per litre now.

They say that during the Diwali festival, the Centre slashed the prices of both petrol and diesel by Rs 12.25 per litre and again did so on May 22.

They say that such a move has resulted in revenue loss of Rs 1 lakh to 20 lakh for each fuel station in the state.

The dealers are holding a series of talks in the state and also at the national level to come up with a plan of action as to how to prevail upon the Centre to restore the dynamic pricing of fuels based on crude oil price in the international market as it was frozen at present.

Moreover, as the BPCL started imposing a cut in the supply to fuel stations in several parts of the state, the dealers have asked the state government as to why no action is being taken against such oil marketers, who are not supplying fuel as per demand.

They say that, instead, if the fuel stations do so, they are being booked immediately and are getting penalised.

President of the AP federation of petroleum traders, Gopala Krishna, said, “We want the Centre to restore the dynamic pricing of fuels immediately. We strongly protest the present government action.”