Dealers urge Govt to intervene on sale of branded petrol

Kakinada, Jul 24 (UNI) Criticising the oil companies for pressurising them to sell their costlier branded products to customers, the East Godavari Petroleum Products Dealers Association today urged the Government to intervene and relieve them from the ''unpleasant situation''.

Talking to newspersons here, Association President Ganni Krishna and Secretary Nookaraju alleged that the oil companies, Bharat and HPCL, among others, were pressurising them to sell their branded products, Speed and Power, which are costlier than the ordinary fuel. The difference in the cost was around Rs four per litre for petrol and Rs 2.25 per litre for diesel, they added.

They said the companies were insisting on sale of branded fuel while the consumers were protesting it.

''The oil companies have made it mandatory to sell the branded fuel along with ordinary fuel, fixing a specific quota, based on the last year's consumption. For every indent of petrol or diesel, we have to accept branded fuel to the extent of one third of the total stock. As a result, ordinary petrol or diesel was getting exhausted quickly, forcing us to either sell only the branded ones to the consumers or putting up 'no stock' boards.'' They urged the Government to instruct the oil companies to refrain from such monopolistic sales practices.

UNI XC VA SV AS1900