Staff Reporter:

Petrol pump owners have proposed shutting down filling stations from 8 PM to 7 AM daily, citing severe supply shortages from depots.

The Bangladesh Petrol Pump Owners Association announced the proposal during a meeting on fuel supply and market conditions held in Dhaka on Tuesday afternoon.

Association leaders stated that filling stations are failing to receive adequate fuel to meet consumer demand, making the current operating hours unsustainable. They identified supply chain logistics and transport management as the primary challenges currently facing the sector.

According to the owners, dispatching partially loaded tankers significantly drives up transportation costs and inflicts financial losses on their businesses.

To resolve this, they urged authorities to ensure tankers are dispatched with full chambers and called for better coordination when distributing fuel to multiple stations within the same district to make the process more cost-effective.

During the meeting, the owners also addressed allegations regarding artificial fuel crises, acknowledging that unauthorized sales and hoarding occasionally occur.

However, they stressed that these isolated incidents do not represent the broader industry.

The association declared that halting sales while holding adequate fuel reserves should be treated as a punishable offense.

The leaders pledged full cooperation with the government to cancel the dealerships of any owners found guilty of hoarding and promised to take decisive organizational action against such offenders.