Dhaka, Jan 23: A nationwide closure of gas stations to press owners' demands that the government boost their profits on the sale of price-controlled fuel was called off at the last minute today when the two sides agreed to continue negotiating.
If gas station owners had gone ahead with their shutdown, it would have dealt a severe blow to the nation's struggling economy.
Representatives from the government and the petrol pump owners association will form a committee to try to find a solution within a month, said junior energy and mineral resources minister A K M Mosharraf Hossain and association spokesman Mohammad Nazmul Huq.
Gas station owners say they want to raise their profit margin on the sale of a litre of fuel from 1.9 per cent to 5 per cent of its government-set retail price.
Before the strike was called off, the government had said the closure would be illegal and vowed to use police to keep a few gas stations operating for emergency purposes.
Earlier this month, the government raised the price of fuel by about 14 per cent to cut losses at the state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corp. This didn't boost station owner's profits because the extra money was chanelled to the petroleum corporation. Bureau Report