Parbatipur oil tankers on indefinite strike
End to extortion, arrest of attackers demanded
Parbatipur unit of Dinajpur district oil tanker owners and workers unions began an indefinite strike yesterday demanding an end to extortion and immediate arrest of the extortionists responsible for attack on two leaders of the workers' union in the upazila town on Sunday.
Owners and workers of around 200 oil tankers went on the strike at 8:30am, suspending fuel supply to eight northern districts from Parbatipur railway oil depot.
On Monday, the leaders of the two unions threatened to go an indefinite strike from February 20 if their demands were not met by Tuesday evening.
A gang of extortionists assaulted Fazlul Haque Bhuiyan, genral secretary of Parbatipur unit of Oil Tankers Workers' Union, and Md Sarwar Hossain, joint secretary of the union, in the upazila town on Sunday evening as they refused to give the criminals Tk10,000.
Immediately after the incident, oil tanker owners and workers brought out a procession in the town protesting attack on the two workers' union leaders.
They held a rally in the town the following day and gave a 24-hour deadline to the local administration to take steps to stop extortion and arrest of the criminals who assaulted Fazlul Haque and Sarwar Hossain. Later, they submitted a memorandum to UNO office in this regard.
Md Mamunur Rashid, general secretary of Dinajpur Oil Tankers Owners' Union, said the strike will continue until the listed extortionists are arrested.
Contacted, Md Shawkat Osman, officer-in-Charge (OC) of Parbatipur Police Station, said they have already arrested an extortionist and will continue drive to nab the other criminals.
Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Rahenul Islam held a meeting with the leaders of the two organisations yesterday morning, but it (meeting) ended inconclusively.
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