Petrol station owners suspend strike until Dec 15

Petrol station owners and workers have suspended an indefinite strike until Dec 15 after the government assured them of looking into their 15-point charter of demands.

At a meeting with Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation in Dhaka on Monday, the Bangladesh Petrol Pump and Lorry Tank Malik-Sramik Oikya Parishad and Jalani Tel Paribeshak Samity decided to halt the strike.

“We don’t want people to suffer. We’re convinced that our demands will be discussed at an inter-ministerial meeting on Dec 15. Until then, we’ve suspended the strike,” Syed Sajjadul Karim, president of Fuel Oil Distributors Association of Bangladesh, told reporters after the meeting.

“The discussion was a very fruitful. Among their demands, BPC will deal with two or three related issues. The rest of the matters will have to be discussed in the inter-ministerial meeting,” said Syed Mehdi Hasan, the BPC director (marketing).

“The ministry will take the final decision on this.”

The groups started the strike on Sunday, leading to a halt in movement of oil-powered vehicles in 26 districts.

Earlier, they had given the government until Nov 30 to fulfil their demands. However, the energy ministry failed to take appropriate measures by the deadline, which led to the strike.

The demands include a minimum of 7.5 percent commission on fuel sales, determining whether fuel traders were commission agents or manufacturers and accident insurance of Tk 500,000 for tank lorry workers.