PESHAWAR: Dealers and owners of petrol pump filling stations have warned of the potential province-wide shutdown, if the government didn’t raise their sales commission in line with the recent increase in the price of petroleum products.
Chairman, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Petroleum Dealers and Cartage Contractors Association Gul Nawaz Afridi addressed a news conference here at press club on Saturday, stated petrol dealers were currently state of troubling situation, despite paying all taxes, government was giving only six percent, calling it as insufficient and raise it to eight percent.
Otherwise, he said they have no other option but to shut their petrol pumps and observe a wheel-jammed strike across the province.
READ MORE: Petroleum dealers demand hike in profit margins
Afridi accused the administration for protecting non-taxpayers illegal ‘dabba’ stations, which is completely illegitimate and unfair with people/investors, legally attached with the petroleum sector.
The Association chairman said officials of district administration regularly visit the petrol pumps for checking of consumer measurement. On the other hand, police rider, patwari, tehsildars and irrelevant people conducted raids on their offices, and they demanded bribes but no action was being taken against them, Afridi said.
He demanded legal businessmen associated with the petroleum sector should be protected from these illegal people.
The association chairman said the petrol pump owners regularly pay all taxes to Federal Board of Revenue, provincial and other institutions of the country, besides they also made a 10 percent increase in salaries of employees annually.
However, he said the six percent margin given by the government to petrol pump owners is reduced to only 1.5 percent after heavy expenditures.
He added sale of petrol pumps is very low in the prevailing circumstances in the province, whereas, the illegal ‘dabba’ stations on various locations are rapidly increasing as compared to ratio of the legal petrol pumps. Afridi, who was accompanied by the association president Akhtar Nawaz, Secretary Bezadur Rehman, Patron in Chief Engr. Maqsood Anwar Pervez, provincial leaders, lamented the administration is least bothered to take action against them, even providing them protection against the legal petrol pumps.
Senior office bearers said petrol dealers had adversely affected due to consistent increase in prices of petroleum products and compelled on purchasing petrol and other products with additional cost of Rs100 per litre. When payments are made in advance, how can it manage to pay timely?
The association demanded an increase in sales commission as per the ratio of increasing price of petroleum products. It proposed to raise the dealer margin to eight percent, from currently six percent.
Afridi informed the issue of margin was taken up by the central leadership of association with federal government and decreed that if their demands were not met forthwith, they may go for nationwide shutdown. He assured that any decision of the central leadership will be fully endorsed by the provincial leadership of the association and an honour and endorse call of shutting down of the petrol pumps across KP.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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