Tankers strike deferred, supply to resume soon

Updated at 3 pm

KOLKATA: The Tankers Association in West Bengal on Tuesday decided to suspend for 15 days their indefinite strike demanding higher rates, after an appeal by state Transport Minister Subhas Chakraborty.

Supplies to petrol pumps would resume from 4 pm, association's office bearers said.

"We have decided to defer our strike for 15 days following an appeal by the Transport Minister and considering the hardship faced by the people in the state," West Bengal Tankers Association President Ajit Das announced after a meeting with Chakraborty.

He said that the Association would not sign any agreement with oil companies as of now.

Chakraborty said: "I appealed to the tankers' association to defer the strike and resume supply from 4.00 p.m. They have faced the problem for long, I requested them to bear with the situation for another 15 days. I hope that some solution will be found."

Chakraborty had a talk with Petroleum minister Murli Deora on Monday evening.

Deora said from Riyadh that he spoke to Chakraborty and assured him that the demands of oil tankers association will be looked into once he is back from his trip to Yemen and Libya.

But first, the tanker owners should call off the strike so that the public are not put to inconvenience, Deora had said.