Director of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) Anupam Barua has said that the organization is monitoring the petroleum fuel supply situation in the country and strict action will be taken if the petrol pump owners do not call off the ongoing strike.
“Strict action will be taken from Monday if the filling station owners’ strike is not withdrawn and fuel supply is disrupted across the country,” said while addressing a press conference at the Boardroom of the Jamuna Oil Company, a subsidiary of the BPC, on Sunday, in the city.
He said some of the demands of the petrol pump owners have been met while the rest are under consideration.
“The government has taken time till September 30. So, any movement in this situation is unacceptable,” he told reporters.
Meanwhile, leaders of a faction of the Bangladesh Petrol Pumps Owners Association (BPPOA) have claimed that the leaders of other factions who have called strikes are “nobody of the organisation”.
“Those leaders were expelled from the organisation for their misappropriation of funds,” said Nazmul Haque, president of the faction of BPPOA which opposed the strike.
“Since the government has already met one of our three demands and assured for meeting the other two within September 30, we don’t support this strike”, he said while addressing at a press conference in the Jamuna Oil’s meeting room in the city on Sunday.
Earlier, the faction of the BPPOA, led by Syed Sazzadul Karim Kabul and Mizanur Rahman Ratan, president and secretary general respectively, announced the strike programme at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity on August 27.
They said that the members of the organisation will begin the strike for an indefinite period at the petrol pumps from September 2 unless their demands are met by August 31.
As a result, an indefinite strike called by fuel traders in Khulna has been underway since this morning (September 03, 2023) to realise their three-point demand including hiking commission on fuel sales.
Moving fuel from Padma, Jamuna and Meghna oil depots has remained suspended since 8am.
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.
Their demands include raising the commission on fuel sales to at least 7.5 per cent, setting the tank-lorry economic life to 50 years, and issuing a gazette notification mentioning fuel traders as commission agents as per previous pledges.
