Petrol pumps in the greater Guwahati area will remain closed for 24 hours from 5 am of July 9 in protest against the move of the oil companies to phase out normal petrol and replace the same with the premium brand, which is costlier. The Greater Guwahati Unit of the North East India Petroleum Dealers' Association, in a release, said that as the next phase of agitation, the petrol pumps of Guwahati would stop purchasing any petroleum product from the oil companies for three days with effect from July 12. The Association alleged that the oil companies arbitrarily took a decision to phase out normal petrol from the retail outlets to replace the same with the premium brand. At present, the normal petrol is sold at the rate of Rs 51.86 per litre, while, the price of the premium brand is Rs 55,86 per litre. The Association if of the view that the decision of the oil companies would seriously affect the common people, who have already been hit hard by the recent hike in the prices of petroleum products. The Association submitted a representation to the Kamrup (Metropolitan) Deputy Commissioner on June 26 opposing the move of the oil companies and the DC also wrote to the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) requesting it to keep the decision in abeyance. But the IOCL did not pay heed to the order of the Deputy Commissioner and normal petrol is not being supplied to the retail outlets, the association said. The Association further said that the Petroleum Ministry is also opposed to such a move. The Ministry, in a letter to the IOC, HPC and BPC on July 2, said that urgent steps should be taken to ensure adequate supply and availability of both branded and unbranded variants of diesel and petrol in all the retail outlets across the country.