Petrol station owners halt strike until Dec 15

Petrol station owners in Rajshahi, Rangpur and Khulna divisions have suspended until December 15 their indefinite strike, which started on Sunday hitting hard oil-fuelled traffic movement in 26 districts.

A faction leader of Bangladesh Petrol Pump and Lorry Tank Malik-Sramik Oikya Parishad and Jalani Tel Paribeshak Samity, Sazzad Kabir Bakul announced this on Monday noon.

Earlier around 11 in the morning, they held a meeting with the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation authorities at the latter's head office in Dhaka city's Karwan Bazar.

During the meeting, Kabir said they will sit in a meeting with the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources over their demands on December 15.

If positive results do not come from the meeting, they will take their next course of action, he said.

Earlier, both the groups that enforced the strike had set November 30 as the deadline for the government to meet their demands, including a minimum of 7.5 per cent commission on fuel sales.

But the government failed to meet the demands, prompting them to enforce the strike indefinitely.