KARACHI: The Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) is observing a countrywide strike against the government for not acting on its demand of an increase in profit margins.
Private petrol pumps are closed with the general public facing difficulties in commute. Pakistan State Oil, Shell, and Hascol, have, however, announced to not participate in the strike and are supplying petrol from their Company-Operated petrol pumps.
PPDA had announced a countrywide strike last week only to postpone it to November 25. A spokesperson for the PPDA said earlier this week that the strike could extend further if the government did not fulfill the association’s demands.
Hammad Azhar rules illegitimate demands
Energy Minister Hammad Azhar has acknowledged the problems of the petroleum dealers and said that the government was already working on resolving them, however, any ‘illegitimate’ demands will not be catered to.
The petroleum dealers were urged by Azhar to put an end to the strike since the general public was facing problems in its daily life commute.
Massive traffic jams
Anticipating petrol shortage, people resorted to panic buying resulting in massive traffic jams all across Karachi. Minutes of daily life travel turned into hours of agony as people turned off the ignition of their cars and motorbikes and waited in their vehicles for the congestion to clear up.