ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) declared on Wednesday that negotiations with the federal, provincial, and other relevant governments had reached a standstill, and that their only choice was to proceed with a statewide shutdown on July 5 (tomorrow).
Speaking to Dawn, PPDA chairman Abdul Sami Khan stated, “They asked us to call off the strike and promised to resolve the issue, but we cannot postpone the strike on mere assurances.”
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.
13,000 stations will close
More than 13,000 gas stations would close starting at 6 a.m. on July 5, according to Mr. Khan, and the strike 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.
In order to prevent supply chain disruptions and inconvenience to the general public and industry, the petroleum division once more sent letters to OMCs requesting them “to ensure availability of sufficient stocks of petroleum products” at company-owned or company-operated as well as other associated sites of respective OMCs.
Dealers are demonstrating against the turnover tax that was just included in the budget. They contend that because of a definitional problem with “dealers and distributors,” outlets that were previously paying advance fixed withholding tax at Rs1.4 per litre (about 12 percent of dealer commission) as final income tax were now subject to double taxation in the form of 0.5 percent advance turnover tax.
Earlier on Tuesday, the dealers were given the assurance by the FBR chairman that the turnover tax will be eliminated. But this required a drawn-out procedure. According to the petroleum secretary, the Finance Act 2024–25, which was approved by the president and parliament, was what brought about the implementation of the turnover tax. A legislative procedure was needed to undo this.
