Petrol pump owners in Bangladesh suspended their strike after partially observing it on Sunday to press home their three-point demand.
Petrol Pump Owners Association president Sazzadul Karim announced the suspension of their strike on assurance from the government.
‘The government assured us it would accept our demand by September 30. This is why we decided to withdraw the strike,’ he said.
Earlier on Sunday, many people had to wait in queues for hours at petrol pumps, which ignored the call for a strike and kept their operations running.
Since early August, the Bangladesh Petrol Pump Owners Association has been agitating for a 7.5 per cent commission on fuel oil sales, a gazette notification mentioning petrol pump owners as commission agents, a waiver of value added tax on truck-lorry fares, and a clear gazette on truck-lorries that have passed an economic life of 25 years.
Currently, petrol pump owners receive a 3.45 per cent commission on the sale of diesel and 4.57 per cent on petrol and octane, association leaders said.
On Sunday, Rahman and Company, a petrol pump with the dealership of Jamuna Oil Company Limited in the capital’s Elephant Road, was found closed at about 1:30pm.
Asked, Md Rahim, an employee of the petrol pump, claimed that they kept the pump open in the morning but closed it later after their stock ended.
He said that they were unable to buy fuel oils from dealers.
Purbachal Traders, a petrol pump under the dealership of Padma Oil Company Limited at Paribagh, was also found to be closed.
When asked, an employee of the pump said that they had closed their operation, joining the strike of the owners’ association.
Pumps that were in open operation saw a huge rush.
Noyon Goldar, a ridesharing service provider, said that he had to wait for about an hour in a long queue at the Meghna Model Service Centre at Poribagh for refuelling.
‘I went to the Rajarbagh Police Line petrol pump and could not take fuel as they were not providing fuel to anyone except police members having tokens. I came to the pump near Matsya Bhaban and found it closed,’ said Noyon.
Some petrol pumps in Kuril and Mirpur were also found closed.
United News of Bangladesh reported that fuel oil supply from Padma, Jamuna, and Meghna oil depots in the area had remained suspended since 8:00am.
Bangladesh Tank-Lorry Owners’ Association, Bangladesh Fuel Oil Distributors Association, Khulna Divisional Tank-Lorry Workers’ Union, and Padma, Meghna, and Jamuna Tank-Lorry Workers’ Welfare Association are observing the strike, reported the news agency.
The power, energy, and mineral resources ministry’s deputy chief information officer, Mir Mohammad Aslam Uddin, claimed that the ministry had discussed the matter with two associations and promised to accept most of their demands by .