Ultimatum served on Govt to cancel gas lease out decision

The half-day hartal enforced by National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports in the city from 6 AM on Monday passed off peacefully without any major trouble. During the hartal hours traffic movement in the streets was thin, and attendance in schools, colleges, business centres and offices was relatively poor.However, life and business returned to normal after the hartal hours were over.Meanwhile, at the end of the hartal programme the oil, gas, committee served an ultimatum on the government to cancel by October 15, the decision to lease out three off-shore gas blocks to foreign companies with a provision for gas export.bdnews24.com adds: A half-day hartal in capital Dhaka, the first in nearly three years, ended at midday on Monday, having been loosely enforced by a citizen's pressure group. The National Committee on Protection of Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Port and Power ended the general strike with an ultimatum to the government. The committee called the hartal protesting the government's recently announced gas exploration deals with international companies. Sheikh Mohammad Shahidullah, convener of the citizen's pressure group said, "the government is hereby given up to October 15 to meet our five-point charter of demands, or the committee will call for a national conference on Oct 16," said Shahidullah. The national conference will decide further rigid programmes such as rallies, hartals, he said. The five-point charter of demands includes the cancellation of the model oil-gas distribution agreements, cancellation of leases given to two foreign firms for three offshore blocks, formulation of new model production-sharing contract ensuring 100 percent public ownership, full implementation of Phulbari Agreement 2006 and punishment to the attackers of member secretary Anu Muhammad and others. The hartal was enforced most strictly in the area between Paltan and Shahbagh with strong picketing. Student activists of left-leaning political organisations vandalised two buses in the morning at Shahbagh intersection. Police kept all approaches barricaded to the Paltan and Shahbagh intersections and only rickshaws plied. Vehicles were thin on the Airport Road during the hartal hours. Most educational institutions remained closed due to the strike, and office goers made arrangements other than cars to get to work, emptying the streets of traffic.