Bangladesh will import an additional 45,000 tons of diesel from India by April, an official said on Sunday.
“Recently, 5,000 tons of diesel arrived in Bangladesh from India, and we will receive another 5,000 tons around the 18th or 19th of March in Bangladesh from India”, Md. Murshed Hossain Azad, General Manager (Commercial & Operations) of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) told ANI over the phone.
“We have received a proposal to import an additional 40,000 tons of diesel from India. Once the procedural work is completed–that is, the opening of the LC and other formalities–this 40,000 tons of diesel will also arrive in Bangladesh by April,” he added.
Between India and Bangladesh, diesel was previously imported from India by train wagons until the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline was launched. Then, in March 2023, the then Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, and the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, inaugurated this Bangladesh-India Friendship Pipeline, and since then, diesel has been imported from India through this pipeline.
Through this pipeline, diesel is imported regularly from the Indian state company Numaligarh Refinery Limited to the Parbatipur depot in Bangladesh via the Bangladesh-India Friendship Pipeline.
The previous interim government in Bangladesh, led by Mohammad Yunus, had halted the import of diesel from India via this pipeline. However, after the election, when Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s government assumed power, in the past few days, the import of diesel again resumed through this pipeline with 5,000 tons.
Due to conflict in West Asia, large crowds gathered at various petrol and fuel pumps to get fuel for motorcycles and vehicles. To control this panic buying, the government had imposed a rationing on sales. That restriction has now been lifted by the government.
The Muslim community considers the biggest festival in Bangladesh to be the holy Eid. On this occasion, so that people can easily travel from the major cities to their village homes and celebrate Eid with relatives and family, the government has lifted the rationing on fuel sales.
