Centre to face fuel dealers’ ire

Hyderabad: Petroleum dealers across the country are on the warpath against the decision of the central government to introduce a new scheme called “Holiday Scheme” that enables oil firms to take over a petrol bunk from the existing dealer if the dealer has not reached set targets.

Major associations of petroleum dealers, including the All India Petrol Dealers’ Association (AIPDA) and Consortium of Indian Petrol Dealers’ Associations (CIPDA), are to hold a general body meeting in Delhi on Monday to voice their dissent on this decision.

Heads of prominent oil manufacturing firms in the country such as Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) have agreed to the scheme and issued circulars to dealers about it.

According to the details of the scheme released on December 21, 2016, oil companies will review the performance of retail outlets every six months (starting from September 30, 2016) — and list the outlets that sell less than 50 per cent of the sales target set by the oil manufacturing companies.

The oil company will then seek information from the dealer about why the target was not achieved and organise counselling sessions to help boost targets.

The targeted dealer will be under the scanner of the oil company and three months after the first review, another review will be held and if the dealer has still not met the 50 per cent target, the oil company will impose the Holiday Scheme by taking over the outlet for up to two years.

An official from BPCL said that bunks that are taken over will be run either by the company itself or by another dealer.

“It is a good scheme for those dealers who want to take a holiday for two or three months for personal reasons. We will run the bunk for the holiday period,” the official said.

Head of the Telangana Petrol Dealers’ Association, M. Dinesh Reddy says all dealers are opposed to this scheme.

“A dealer invests at least Rs 60 lakh to Rs 2 crore to establish a petrol bunk, apart from Rs 45 lakh towards basic infrastructure. How can they hand over their bunks to oil companies? This is purely autocratic policies of oil companies. We are demanding to reflect the impact on concern officials who are getting promotions in cases of achieving targets and demote them in cases of dealers’ failure.

He said Monday’s meeting in Delhi will decide the future plan of protests against the scheme.