Tank-lorry owners threaten strike if demands not met
The Bangladesh Tank-Lorry Owners' Association has announced indefinite abstention from lifting and transporting fuel oil from 1 August if their demands, including raising the commission of fuel sale, are not met within 31 July.
The demands are to make the economic life of fuel oil 50 years, fix a commission of at least 7.5% of the fuel price and publish a gazette.
The Khulna divisional committee of the Bangladesh Tank-Lorry Owners' Association, Bangladesh Petroleum Dealers Distributors Agents, and Petrol Pump Owners Association organised a press conference at the Bangladesh Tank-Lorry Owners' Association building in Khulna to express their demands on Sunday.
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In a written statement at the conference, Farhad Hossain, secretary general of the Bangladesh Tank-Lorry Owners' Association, said filling stations are not manufacturing companies. Filling stations sell diesel, petrol, and octane from companies, but the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments insists filling stations on obtaining licenses.
The Department of Environment also puts pressure on filling stations to have a licence even though there is no scope for pollution from filling stations. Roads and Highways Department is pressuring filling stations to take lease of space at the entrance to filling stations even though all vehicles collecting fuel from the filling stations have route permits, he added.
Farhad Hossain also said the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution is pressurising filling station owners to calibrate the underground tank of feeling stations every year although an underground tank is not a measuring device and it is not in any way related to the interests of consumers.
It was said at the conference that the pressure for licenses from government organisations will put the industry in crisis very soon. There should be an amicable solution to the issues mentioned by the association to preserve the tradition and existence of the industry.
Among others, Bangladesh Tanker Owners Association Khulna Divisional Committee Senior Vice President Alhaj M Mahbub Alam, Organising Secretary Sheikh Miraul Islam, Bangladesh Fuel Oil Distributors Association Khulna Divisional Committee President Alhaj Abdul Gaffar Biswas, Vice President Alhaj Moral Abdus Sobahan, General Secretary Sheikh Murad Hossain were present on the occasion.
