Click to play videoNew Delhi: The fuel crisis in West Bengal seemed to be heading towards a resolution on Tuesday with a crucial meeting between the state government and tanker association coming to a successful conclusion.
According to an agreement reached between State Transport Minister Subhas Chakraborty and the tankers association, the six-day-long fuel strike will finally be withdrawn w.e.f 1600 hrs (IST) on Tuesday.
"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.
The tanker association has agreed to the proposed rate of Rs 122.65 for carrying per kilolitre within the free delivery zone and will meet for further talks after couple of weeks .
However, the association said that they were withdrawing the strike only for the time being after the appeal from the Transport Minister.
Earlier in the day, the meeting between Chakraborty and oil associations failed, with the minister coming down heavily on oil firms.
Chakraborty blamed mismanagement on part of oil companies for the ongoing stir that's crippled the state and entered into its sixth day on Tuesday.
The state government's intervention comes as a huge respite after talks between the oil firms and tanker association failing on Monday.
After the meeting, the oil companies offered to hike transportation rates to Rs 122 , but the association wouldn’t settle for anything less than Rs 130.
"The pumps have gone dry due to lack of supply of petro products by the striking tankers Association. Oil companies have the responsibility to supply fuel to our pumps, but they have failed to resolve the problem. The people are suffering," President, West Bengal Petroleum Dealers Association, Tushar Kanti Sen told journalists after the meeting.
Sen said the Association had sought the intervention of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to help end the crises.
The oil firms refused to budge from their stand. "It is not possible for the oil companies to accept the demand of the striking Association and we have informed the Transport minister Subhas Chakraborty of our stand," said Indian Oil Corporation Genenral Manager Gautam Dutta.
Meanwhile, nearly 1,000 petrol pumps in and around Kolkata ran dry on Monday as their stock got exhausted.
Most filling stations in and around the metropolis and adjoining North and South 24-Parganas besides Howrah and Hooghly districts put up 'no stock' boards on Monday after having run dry.
Nearly 60 per cent of the private buses went off the roads due to non-availability of diesel. The strike is also expected to affect the state civil aviation sector as there could be a shortage of aviation fuel.
Both Joint Council of Bus Syndicate and Bengal Bus Syndicate said the majority of the private buses were off the roads due to non-availability of diesel.
(With CNN-IBN and agency inputs)
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