Petroleum dealers across the State on Saturday staged dharnas outside oil refineries ensuring that no fuel loads left the premises to be supplied to petroleum outlets.
The Tamil Nadu Petroleum Dealers Association had called for a no-purchase protest, urging the Centre to compensate the inventory loss incurred due to price decreases.
“Dealers have to hold three days stock and when the prices of petrol and diesel are reduced without notice, we incur losses since we procured them at a higher price. Ideally, we would like prices to be reduced on fixed dates – the 15{+t}{+h}and 31{+s}{+t}of every month — so that we can plan accordingly,” said K. Sureshkumar, association vice-president.
The oil companies supply a total of 28,000 kilolitres to 4,700 dealers in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry every day.
The dealers also want the ministry to withdraw new guidelines for upkeep of toilets in outlets.
