Bengaluru: The two-day fuel station bandh, called by the Karnataka State Petroleum Dealers’ Association, was withdrawn on Friday after talks between association members and representatives of various state owned oil firms ended successfully.
Members of the state petroleum dealers association said that the strike was withdrawn as the petroleum ministry agreed to consider their demands, including an increase in the transport costs and revision of commission per litre of petrol, diesel and other petroleum products.
Association president Ravindranath said that as the talks were successful, all the fuel stations in the city will operate normally. The association had earlier announced that the fuel stations will operate only between 9 am and 5 pm from Saturday.
Though the bandh started on Thursday, it did not have any impact in the city on Friday as petrol bunks continued to function normally. As the association had announced that none of the fuel station owners in the city would buy petrol or diesel from Thursday, the scarcity was expected from Friday afternoon. But only a handful of bunks in the city ran out of fuel. “Most fuel stations accepted the supplies on Friday morning. This ensured that there was no problem in the city,” said a fuel station owner, who wished not to be identified.
Association members had even threatened to close down the fuel stations on Sunday and all public holidays to press their demands. “But now with union government accepting most of our demands, we have withdrawn the strike,” he said.
