VASCO
Refuting claims that a fuel price rise has benefited petrol pump owners, All Goa Petrol Pump Owners Association President Paresh Joshi said their margins had not changed since 2017 but their investments had increased with the price rise. “Earlier, we spent around Rs 7 lakh for a tanker in 2017 and today, we pay around Rs 9.5 lakh per tanker. Our investment has gone up while our margins have remained unchanged.”
Joshi said commissions of petrol pump owners is fixed at around 2 percent, adding that petrol pumps are working at the lowest margin possible. “Besides, we have to take care of all aspects as well. We cannot reduce the salary of our workers but on the contrary, we had to spend our money to bring workers and arrange accommodation and food for them during the Covid pandemic.”
“We made this additional expense only to ensure that our chain must run and we were one of the very few services open during the pandemic, to help ambulances, polices and government vehicles during the pandemic. We may have selflessly served society, but no petrol pump has gained any additional profit with the price hike,” said Joshi.
