The petrol pumps and tank lorry owners on Sunday called off their strike after the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation assured them of meeting their demands by different timelines, up to two months.
鈥楾he assurance of meeting our demands came about six and a half hours after the strike was enforced,鈥� said Nazmul Haque, president of the Bangladesh Petrol Pump and Tank-Lorry Owners Workers Unity Council, a representative body of both operators and workers.
The strike was meant to be in force for eight hours.
In a press release the unity council said that their members, about 3,400, across the country spontaneously participated in the strike.
The BPC assured the unity council to increase commission on oil sales. The first demand of the unity council is to increase the commission by 7 per cent. The BPC said that it would decide within 15 days the margin by which the commission would be increased. A five-member committee, including two representatives from the unity council, was formed to come up with a commission increase proposal within the stipulated time.
The meeting that led to the negotiation was held at the BPC headquarters. The meeting started at 10:00am.
The unity council had made 10 demands. The nine other demands were assured to be fulfilled in next two months, said the press release sent by the unity council.
The power and energy ministry formed a 15-member committee to evaluate and come up with recommendations regarding the other nine demands in two months.
The other demands included cancellation of the provision requiring petrol pumps to obtain registration from the environment, industries, and fire service. The unity council also demanded actions to bring an end to the sale of oil illegally in the open.
The unity council said that the requirement to get six licences in addition to three previous ones 鈥� trade, dealership and explosive 鈥� cost them Tk 18 lakh every year, mainly because of the expenses needed to bribe relevant government offices.
