The Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) Wednesday announced to go on a countrywide strike from Thursday (today) to register their protest against what they called low-profit margins. Talking to the media persons in Karachi, PPDA Secretary Noman Butt said all fuel stations will close at 6am across the country from Thursday for an indefinite period, including Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, reports the media. He maintained the government continued to ignore their demand, adding that they would not hold talks with the authorities until their profit margin on the sale of petroleum products was not increased by 6 percent. Butt said earlier the government had assured them that their demands would be fulfilled after which they called off their strike. “After receiving an assurance from the government that our demands would be accepted, we had taken back the November 5 strike call,” Noman Butt said. He said no government official had contacted them so far. Meanwhile, Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar Wednesday said the government was in constant contact with the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) with regard to revision of the fuel profit margin. “We are in contact with petroleum dealers association,” he said in a tweet. The minister said a summary for revision of the petroleum dealers’ margin had already been tabled in the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), which would decide it in the next meeting. A spokesperson for the Petroleum Division Wednesday said all petrol pumps of different companies, including PSO, Shell and TOTAL, would remain open as per routine on Thursday across the country, asking the public ‘not to worry or get upset’ about fuel supply. “Tomorrow [November 25], all petrol pumps of PSO [Pakistan State Oil], Shell Pakistan and other companies will remain open across the country,” the spokesperson said in a news release, reports the APP. He said oil tankers had been dispatched aimed at ensuring an efficient fuel supply chain, adding different oil sector associations had expressed satisfaction over the measures taken by the ministry in that regard. The spokesperson said the Ministry of Energy had already sent a summary to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) for increasing the profit margin of petrol pump dealers. “The ministry is making efforts for a reasonable increase in the margin of oil marketing companies and dealers,” he said, adding the decision was likely in 10 days after approval by the federal cabinet.