DHAKA: The owners of gas stations across the country threatened to go on strike soon in protest against the government measure for keeping closed the refueling pumps for six hours daily.

An emergency meeting of Bangladesh CNG Filling Station and Conversion Workshop Owners Association on Saturday evening took the decision.

However, the decision is “yet to be finalized”, sources said.

A leader of the association told banglanews, “The issue will be placed at the general meeting of the association next Saturday. The meeting will finalize the decision.”  

On August 12, the government took the decision to keep the CNG-refueling stations closed from 3pm to 9pm daily to increase power generation by gas-fired plants apart from keeping gas pressure normal for households in the wake of a fuel crunch.

In the meantime, the owners of CNG stations across the country also threatened that they would go for demonstrations if the embargo was not lifted after the Ramadan rush.

Later, on September 16, a meeting of Power and Energy Ministry upheld the decision, which prompted the owners to opt for strike.

BDST: 2109 HRS, SEP 18, 2010.