The government on Wednesday decided to buy three lakh tonnes of diesel to meet the emergency need, as the high demand for fuel oils continues resulting in overcrowded filling stations, particularly in Dhaka city.

Apart from the queues of the general customers, hundreds of government employees are also crowding the city filling stations with slips enabling them to shun the general queues, worsening the chaos with traffic snarls often slowing down vehicular movement on adjacent roads.

‘I had to wait around half an hour to cross a crossing on the Kazi Nazrul Avenue at around 4:00pm because of the jam,’ said a motorcyclist on the day.

Commuters alleged that government officials, violating rules, were driving into the filling stations often through the exit way to get fuel, which complicated the already chaotic scene at the pumps overwhelmed with long queues of general consumers, spilling into the adjacent roads.

The disorderly situation triggers further panic buying causing many to turn to illegal sources to collect fuel oils in the backdrop of the ongoing war in the Gulf region.

While the hours-long queues at the filling stations have become a common scene over the past one month, the ceasefire agreed by warring parties early Wednesday morning (Bangladesh time), hardly eased the panic buying continuing on the day.

The decision of procuring 3,00,000 tonnes of diesel was taken by the cabinet committee on economic affairs at a meeting held at Jatiya Sangsad on the day.

Presided over by finance and planning minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdury, the committee approved three proposals from the Energy Division to import diesel on direct purchase method avoiding open tenders to meet the emergency need in the wake of the war-hampered fuel oil import. 

Three business entities—Switzerland-based Yar Energy AG, K&R International Trading Company, and M/S Sikder International—will supply 1,00,000 tonnes of diesel each, according to the decision of the economic affairs cabinet committee.

With the latest decisions, the Energy Division has secured procurement of 4,60,000  tonnes of diesel over the past one week.

The meeting also approved a Health Services Division proposal to procure vaccines for the Extended Programme on Immunisation from the UNICEF under the direct purchase method to ensure supply of the essential vaccines in the current financial year.

Besides, the committee also agreed in principle two proposals by the Bridges Division—one for the construction of a bridge over the Meghna River on Shariatpur-Chandpur road and the other for the construction of Bhola Bridge on Barishal-Bhola road over the Kalabadar and Tetulia rivers.