CHENNAI: Following the decision of petroleum dealers to boycott purchase of fuel from oil marketing
companies on Thursday and the day after, outlets in Tamil Nadu are likely to go dry by tomorrow afternoon itself, dealers said.
"We expect most of the outlets will go dry by tomorrow afternoon in Tamil Nadu. We will be holding a
meeting with oil industry officials in Mumbai tomorrow," Tamil Nadu Petroleum Dealers Association secretary Suresh Kumar said.
Fuel pump owners are up in arms, pressing for various demands, including the three major oil companies -- IndianOil, HPCL and BPCL -- to increase the commission given to them from the existing three per cent to five per cent.
"We began our agitation by turning off lights on October 19 and 26 in all the fuel outlets in Tamil Nadu. It was successful. Today and tomorrow, we are agitating through no purchase of fuel from oil companies", Kumar told the PTI.
Meanwhile, the oil pump owners representing 54,000 outlets across the country would hold a meeting with oil marketing companies in Mumbai tomorrow to discuss the demands. "There is a meeting tomorrow with oil industries in Mumbai where we will discuss the issue. If our demands are not met, the fuel outlets will run on single shift, i.e. from 0900 hrs to 1800 hrs from Saturday," he said.
"All Sundays will be our weekly off. On the second and fourth saturday and on national holidays, fuel outlets will be declared a day off", he said.
According to Kumar, Chennai and neighbouring districts have around 400 fuel outlets including 4,600 in Tamil Nadu.