The petroleum dealers, under the aegis of the Federation of All India Petroleum Traders association, had on December 20 decided not to lift petro-products from refineries to protest against the arbitrary manner of testing samples from bunks by oil company officials.

Meanwhile, a meeting of petroleum dealers from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh with the marketing directors of various oil companies is scheduled for tomorrow in Mumbai to avert a possible crisis.

"Since our grievance has not been redressed in spite of meetings with oil industry officials we have no go but to stop procuring petroleum products from the refineries from December 25 midnight," Ramesh Kundanmal, president of the Bombay Petrol Association said and claimed that vehicular movement in the three states could come to a standstill by December 27.

At a meeting with the state level co-ordinator for the oil industry, which was held on December 21 in Mumbai, the SLC declined to give permission to these dealers to carry out testing of petro-products at government-approved laboratories before they are decanted into the bunks and this led to a deadlock, he explained. "The following day at the five-hour long FAIPT's meeting with the regional level co-ordinator for oil industry, the oil officials agreed to identify and approve a suitable portable clinical test kit for the retail outlets in due course to test petroleum products," he said.

Pending approval of a test kit, the dealers agreed to co-operate with the oil industry and to draw, seal, endorse and forward for government laboratory tests, samples from tanker lorries before decanting into underground tanks, Kundanmal added.

"However, there is a catch in this offer as on the one hand we are allowed to test the products whilst on the other hand the oil industry does not want to give us the time for testing which takes about 20 days," he alleged. "In the interim our tanks will go dry," Kundanmal said.

In the north, especially in Delhi, dealers were only required to do the hydrometer test (to verify density of the supplied product with the company's specifications) the filter paper test (to check for adulteration), he pointed out and added that there was no threat of victimisation from raiding officials.

"Why can't the same yardstick as is applicable in the north be applied to other regions of the country," he questioned.