Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada and Udupi district Petroleum Dealers Association (DKUPDA) has extended their support to the nationwide strike of dealers on October 13 to press for various demands including better margins and inclusion of petroleum products in the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Briefing media persons here on Tuesday, DKUPDA President Sathish N Kamath said that the authorities concerned should stop daily price change mechanism. This has neither benefited the customers nor the dealers. About 80% of the outlets are not automated and the equipment at over 50 % of the automated outlets do not work. Hence, every morning at 6 am, every dealer has to be present to change the price.

“As petrol and diesel is decontrolled, we want to be outside the scope of Essential Commodities Act. All the fresh amendments to the marketing discipline guidelines should be quashed,” he said. The Association also objected to petrol pump toilets being converted into public toilets as this may lead to serious security issue as we deal in volatile products like petrol and LPG.

“Petroleum dealers should be provided with public liability insurance by the oil marketing companies (OMCs), as we can not afford to take a policy on our own as public sector insurance companies do not want to insure us and if they do, the premium amount is exorbitant. Private operators like Reliance, Essar and others are not bound to provide toilet facility,” he added.

Further, he said that OMCs have started installing state-of-the-art noiseless dispensers which are calibrated through computers by the legal metrology department. OMCs are levying penalties on dealers for erratic delivery of these dispensers when the manufacturers themselves have said that there is a margin of error.