Staff Reporter:
Bangladesh CNG Filling Station and Conversion Workshop Owners Association on Tuesday threatened a nationwide strike unless its four-point demand including an increase in commission on CNG sales is met by July 30.
The association announced it will observe a symbolic countrywide strike on July 30 if its demands re-main unaddressed, followed by an indefinite shutdown of all CNG filling stations across the country from August 23.
The program was announced at a press conference at Bijoynagar in the capital.
Amiruzzaman Chowdhury, convener of the steering committee formed to implement the program, read out a written statement.
The commission on CNG sales has remained unchanged at Tk 8 per cubic meter since September 1, 2015, they said.
Over the past nearly 11 years, electricity and gas prices have risen multiple times, while high inflation has pushed up workers’ wages, bank guarantee commissions, interest on loans, the dollar exchange rate, and other operational costs several times over, the association leaders said.
With the commission remaining static, most stations are now running at a loss, the association said.
The four-point demand includes raising the commission on CNG sales from Tk 8 to at least Tk 13.96 per cubic metre, introducing a mechanism for automatic adjustment of the commission whenever fuel prices rise in future, scrapping the practice of collecting additional security deposits from existing customers following gas price hikes, and bringing down licence and renewal fees charged by various government agencies, including land lease fees under the Roads and Highways Department, to a reasonable level.
Under the announced program, a symbolic strike will be observed at all CNG filling stations across the country from 6:00 am to midnight on July 30, during which scope for dialogue with the government will remain open.
However, if no progress is made on the demands, all CNG filling stations nationwide will be shut indef-initely from August 23, the association said.
Association leaders alleged that despite repeated attempts to contact the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources and the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) to discuss their de-mands, they received no positive response.
Two main arguments were presented at the press conference in favor of raising the commission to Tk 13.96.
Monoranjan Bhakta, president of the association, and Farhan Noor, its secretary general, were present along with other central leaders.
