Staff reporter :
Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity (JKS), on Saturday protested the price hikes of diesel and kerosene and demanded withdrawal of the ongoing transport strike considering interest of the people.
Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, secretary general of the association, made the demand at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity with a call to cancel the government’s decision to increase fuel price and put an end to ‘anarchy in transport sector’ in the name of strike.
The government has made a hefty profit for the last six years by selling petroleum products at high rates due to low prices in the global market, he added.
He claimed that it was a suicidal decision to increase the price of diesel and kerosene by 23 per cent during this difficult time for the people of the country, adding that the government has the capacity to subsidies Tk 6000 crore annually.
“Even if diesel and kerosene prices are raised, the increased amount of fares should not cross 15 paisa per kilometer,” added Mozammel.
Sharifuzzaman Sharif, a member of the organisation’s advisory council, said that the way fuel price is hiked is illegal.
On Wednesday, the government increased diesel and kerosene prices by Tk 15 per litre – from Tk 65 to Tk 80 – in order to stop smuggling out of fuel oils to neighbouring India and keep them in line with rising fuel prices in the global market.
