Bus, truck and covered van owners called an indefinite nationwide strike from Friday in protest against hike in fuel price. The strike will continue until the price of fuel oil is reduced.
Bangladesh Truck, Covered Van Owners Association joint general secretary Hazi Md Tofazzol Hossain Majumder confirmed this to Bangladesh post.
He said, “We are thinking of an indefinite strike as the price of oil has suddenly gone up by Tk 15 per liter. Against the oil price hike bus owners association will not ply their buses, trucks and others on the road. Without discussing and any prior notice, such price increase becomes a large obstacle for our business.”
“In this way, if the price of oil goes up, mass people will suffer. We ourselves are general people, from there we want the government to be kind to us,” he added.
Tofazzolalso said that the movement of trucks has been stopped in some places outside Dhaka.
The Dhaka Road Transport Owners' Association has also hinted at stopping public transport in protest of the diesel price hike. However, no organizational decision has been made in this regard yet.
General Secretary of the associationKhandakerEnayetUllah told media, “The price of fuel oil has been increased by Tk 15 per liter. This has never happened in our history before. Now the owners of various transport companies are protesting against the increase in oil prices, saying they will not run public transport from Friday. So far we have not taken any organizational decision yet. We have informed the matter through a letter to the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).”
In a press release issued by the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources on Wednesday night, it was announced that the price of diesel and kerosene would be increased by Tk 15 per liter. The new price has been increased from Tk 65 to Tk80 at the consumer level.
The bus fare on different routes has been increased on the pretext of increasing the price of diesel. The passengers have been arguing over the extra bus fare since Thursday morning. There have also been clashes in several places.