The working hours of petrol bunks in the state would be reduced to 12 hours from Tuesday onwards as part of the efforts to reduce the expenditure in operating a bunk.
Confederation of Indian Petroleum Dealers has called for a protest demanding a raise in the commission of dealers. The initial decision was to operate the bunks from 9 am to 7 pm but later it was decided to set the working hours from 7 am to 7 pm.
General secretary of All-Kerala Federation of Petroleum Traders, M Radhakrishnan said that each dealer could save around `20,000 to `30,000 through limiting the working hours. The sale of petroleum products is likely to decrease in the first month and then it will be steady, he said.
Around 1,875 bunks coming under the Federation will work only for 12 hours. The recent loadshedding and hike in power tariff had increased the expenditure of the bunks to at least Rs 25,000 a month.
“The extra expenditure will come down with reducing both the power consumption and cost of operating the generator. The manpower will continue as there will be great rush during the day time”, Radhakrishnan said.
The income of the bunks is likely to increase with two-wheelers which fill petrol on a daily basis, buying more petrol. And those planning a trip for the next day would also fill more petrol or diesel a day before. He said even after the price hike of petroleum products several times the commission of the dealers had not been increased for the past two years.
The Union Petroleum Ministry had put the onus of raising the commission of the dealers on the oil companies and the oil companies, in turn, blamed the Union Government, he said.