Be Optimistic
Politcal Worker (100+ posts)
KARACHI:
Thousands of fuel stations, mostly in upcountry, are feared to face shortage of petroleum products after a couple of associations of oil tanker owners and operators went on a wheel-jam strike to protest against imposition of 16% sales tax.Petrol pumps across the country will run dry by Sunday evening, Oil Tankers Contractors Association Senior Vice Chairman Shams Shahwani said, claiming it was the legitimate and largest lobby group of oil transporters in the country.
He revealed that they had contacted Punjab and Sindh government officials to seek withdrawal of the new 16% sales tax on oil tankers, which came into effect on Saturday.
They, however, remained reluctant to address the issue.We will continue the strike till provincial governments issue a notification for withdrawal of the tax, he said.According to Shahwani, each oil tanker pays Rs10,500 in taxes and duties when it goes from Karachi to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and returns back.
He said the contractors in his association supplied oil across the country on behalf of 18 oil marketing companies, including the leading ones.Echoing similar views, the chairman of another association of the same name the Oil Tankers Contractors Association, Suleman Tareen, said they would remain on strike until the tax was withdrawn.
However, they restored supplies to petrol filling stations in Karachi after the Sindh government invited them for talks, which would be held on Tuesday (April 4).
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