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Sylhet fuel dealers start indefinite strike today

Drastic cut in LPG price demanded

20 June 2009, 17:00 PM

NATIONAL

Staff Correspondent, Sylhet

Petroleum dealers, agents and distributors of greater Sylhet region will stop lifting petrol, diesel and octane from the Petrobangla's Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited (RPGCL) plant at Golapganj and all other gas fields in Sylhet from today. They will also keep selling of the items from filling stations suspended to press their demands including drastic reduction of LPG price and withdrawal of the decision for its bulk supply to Jamuna Spacetrack and other private concerns. Earlier at a press conference at Sylhet Press Club on June 8, the dealers, agents and distributors announced the programme. President of Sylhet Division Petroleum Dealers, Agents and Distributors Association, Mohsinur Rashid yesterday said the authorities had failed to implement the agreed decisions taken at the meeting held on May 6 in the office of the prime minister's adviser for energy affairs. The state minister for energy and officials of BPC were also present in the meeting, he said. The government last week announced reduction of the LPG price to Tk 700 per cylinder. But there had been no announcement about the two other major demands, which the authorities had accepted, Rashid said. The demands include, reducing LPG price to Tk 400 from existing Tk 850 per cylinder and withdrawal of the decision for bulk supply of LPG to Jamuna Spacetrack and other private concerns, withdrawal of the decision to shut the barge depot at Sachna Bazar in Sunamganj and making functional the Meghna Petroleum depot at Moglabazar, Sylhet which has remained unusable for 15 years. “During the last few weeks, we had meetings with the finance minister, the education minister and the industries minister. They had accepted the legitimate demands, but everything has remained in balance yet,” Rashid said. On April 29, Sylhet Division Petroleum Dealers, Agents and Distributors Association, Tank Lorry Owners Association and CNG Filling Station Owners Association went on an indefinite strike to press the demands. After four days' strike, the authorities accepted the demands and assured taking measures, but nothing has been done yet, Rashid claimed. Due to the four-day strike from April 29, petrol, diesel and octane worth Tk 4 crore remained stockpiled at the RPGCL plant at Golapganj as the three associations of petroleum dealers of the region stopped lifting those. Presently, huge LP gas has been lying unsold at the LPG Bottling Plant at Golapganj. Cylindering of the gas had gone down to 20 per cent, an official said yesterday.