Disinvestment moves put fuel dealers’ woes on backburner

Hyderabad: Speculations are rife that the Centre had started the process of disinvestment in the oil companies and that some global private oil companies have expressed intent to buy majority shares in the Indian oil companies and that was the reason why the Centre was ignoring the repeated plea of the petroleum dealers to resolve their problems and enhance the commission amount.

According to the Telangana Petroleum Dealers’ Association, this had left them with no other option to give a call for strike. This problem is not just of Telangana. It is a problem being faced by all the dealers across the country and all were of the opinion that they should go on strike. They claim that the process of disinvestment in Bharat Petroleum had already begun. It may take the decision to hand over the stakes after the general elections are over, they feel. The Centre seems to be of the view that if the demands of the dealers were kept pending, the public sector oil companies would get weakened and would have no option but to hand over the companies to private entities.

The dealers association alleges that the Public Sector Undertakings have also made up their mind in favour of disinvestment. They further said that the petroleum ministry was not even willing to hear the grievances of the dealers. The future of petroleum dealers is bleak and hence they were contemplating to go on strike to put pressure on the government to act in their favour.