Mysuru: Petrol bunks across nearly 13 States in the country will be closed every Sunday starting tomorrow in protest against the oil companies ‘failing to fulfil the demands of Petroleum dealers.’

Speaking to Star of Mysore, here this morning, Shashikala Nagaraj, President of Federation of Mysore Petroleum Traders, said that all bunks in the city will be closed tomorrow as announced earlier, declaring Sunday as a holiday. “In no other business money is paid in advance to collect the commodity. We pay on an average Rs. 8.50 lakh in the form of DD to purchase petrol,” she said.

The petroleum dealers are facing numerous problems but  the public is unaware as the bunks are always working, she said.

“In fact, the big three oil companies — IOC, BP and HP — which supply petrol to us tell us that it is because of the dealers that the officials could have their bread and butter. When such is the scenario, they are not willing to increase the commission which is now just over Rs. 2 (there was a time when we were getting a measly Re. 0.80)”, said Shashikala Nagaraj.

Associations divided

Meanwhile, two main Associations — Consortium of Indian Petroleum Dealers (CIPD) and All India Petroleum Dealers Association (AIPDA) — are working at crosspurposes. While, CIPD has called for closure on Sundays, the AIPDA has not called for the same.