Owners and workers of filling stations, oil tanks and lorries have enforced a nine-hour strike throughout Bangladesh, putting brakes on business and travel.
Scores of people across capital Dhaka have been hit by the nine-hour strike. Around 5,600 filling stations across the country stopped selling fuel oil from 6am to 3pm on Sunday, responding to the strike call by the Bangladesh Petrol Pump and Tank-Lorry Owners-Workers Unity Council.
On Aug 20, the council announced the strike to press its 12-point charter of demand, including a hike in sales commission and a rollback of the rise in lease charges.
Tusher Mahbub, a Supreme Court lawyer, was caught off-guard at Ramna Petrol Pump.
“I did not know that the pump owners’ strike was on. I dragged my motorbike here all the way from Shahbagh and found no fuel. There is no space where I can leave the bike,” Tusher said.
Another customer, Nurul Amin, a driver of the finance ministry, came disappointed after knocking a couple of fuel stations.
“I went to a couple of filling stations but none of them were ready to sell. Now I am in trouble.”
However, at a press conference on Sunday morning, Council Convener Md Nazmul Hoque said: “Our programme was pre-scheduled. Those in need had purchased fuel yesterday.”
Leaders of the Unity Council alleged that although the authorities had previously promised to fulfil their demands within three months, nothing was has been in the following six years.
They also claimed that four letters have been sent to the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources so far this year but they received no response.
Although the cost for operating a fuel station has soared in past few years, owners of petrol pumps are still getting commission as per the rate of 2011, claimed the agitating leaders.
Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation Director Mir Reza Ali claimed that not all the filling stations were on strike.He said the corporation chairman had acknowledged the protesters' demands.
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