Pune: Petrol pumps across the country are set to observe a day-long strike on October 13 to protest against issues pertaining to the marketing discipline guidelines, home delivery of petrol and inability of oil companies to implement the provisions of an accord signed last year.

The nation-wide strike has been called unanimously by the three petrol dealers associations in the country - All India Petrol Dealers Association (AIPDA), Federation of All India Petrol Traders (FAIPT) and Consortium of Indian Petroleum Dealers-Federation of All Maharashtra Petroleum Dealers Association (CIPD-FEMPDA).

Speaking about the issue, AIPDA spokesperson Ali Daruwalla said, “We have jointly agreed to go for an 'all-India' closure of all petrol pumps against certain policies of the government and oil companies. We will observe a day-long closure on October 13 and if our demands are not met with, we will launch an indefinite strike from October 27.”

According to Daruwalla, the new marketing discipline guidelines (MDG) implemented by the government are one sided and very harmful to the dealers' interest. “The MDG implemented is not in our favour. Moreover, none of the associations or dealers were consulted while drafting these guidelines or implementing them,” he said.

Adding to this, he said that the protest will also display the opposition of the petrol dealers to the home delivery of petrol and petroleum products which was announced by the government a few days ago. Daruwalla said that they had been opposing this move even before it was passed by the government but to no avail.

Lastly, the protest will also mark the discontent of the dealers with regard to the inability of oil companies to implement the provisions of the accord signed between a joint forum of the three associations and oil companies. “The joint forum had signed an accord with oil companies on November 4, 2016, to fulfill demands of the dealers regarding dealer commission and other such issues. There was a deadline for the implementation of the same but it has not been implemented yet. We are staging a protest against that too,” Daruwalla added.

He said that an indefinite strike will be launched in unison by all three associations on October 27 until the government and oil companies fulfill the demands made by the dealers' associations.