KARACHI, March 7: Goods carriers on Friday observed a token strike and suspended transportation of goods to upcountry by parking their vehicles on different roads against intermittent increase in the prices of petroleum products.

The Karachi Goods Carriers’ Association demanded of the government to award them a licence for importing petroleum products from Iran and selling diesel at Rs7 per litre.

According to the goods carriers, the transportation of 137,000 tons of food items, drugs and other goods remained suspended from dawn to dusk on Friday. Trucks and trailers were parked on the Mauripur Road, G.A. Allana Road and Sheikh Abdur Rasheed Road in southern parts of the city near the Karachi port area, where a sit-in was also staged, blocking traffic flow. Shershah Road was also blocked in the morning.

The blockade continued for almost two hours in the morning and roads were re-opened for traffic after intervention of police and city administration. Besides Shershah Road, on which both the carriageways were re-opened, the Mauripur Road, G.A. Allana Road and Sheikh Abdur Rasheed Road were partially opened.

On the one carriageway on these roads, trucks remained parked throughout the day and the two-way traffic was allowed to move only on the single track of the dual-carriageways.

Leaders of the transporters at the sit-in vowed to continue their struggle till the Oil Companies’ Advisory Committee (OCAC) was disbanded and diesel prices were lowered to Rs10 per litre. They said it was a token strike and if the government did not meet the demands, a countrywide wheel-jam strike would be observed.

Association president Yousuf Haroon Khan said, “If the government awards us a licence for importing petroleum products from Iran, we will supply diesel at Rs7 per litre throughout the country.”

A meeting of different transport organizations from upcountry was also held with chief coordinator Mian Nisar Afzal of the Karachi Goods Carriers’ Association, in which it was decided that a meeting of all the transport organizations would be convened in the third week of March.

Mr Afzal said that in the last 50 years diesel prices had increased to Rs9.30 per litre while during the last three years the prices soared to Rs26.23 per litre — almost an increase of Rs17 per litre.

He said diesel was being smuggled from Iran into Balochistan where it was being sold for Rs7 a litre. The government should import diesel from Iran officially or award the transporters a licence to do the job, he maintained.

He said goods transporters were not in favour of increasing fares as it would add to the miseries of the people. “We want the government to lower diesel prices and fix it for a longer period than revising it after every fifteen days.” He described the revision of petroleum prices after every fortnight as 24 mini- budgets in a year.

He said that petroleum prices in the international market were lowered recently to 35.88 US dollars per barrel from 39.99 dollars, but the OCAC had been constantly increasing the rates.

Besides, the Sindh government on the demand of local transporters has increased public transport fares due to the increase in diesel prices. Since the implementation of the new fares, scuffles and arguments between the conductors of public transport and passengers have been reported. During heated arguments, passengers refused to pay excessive fares, which at some places led to brawl between conductors and passengers.

The local transport operators, however, also demanded that the Oil Companies’ Advisory Committee should be disbanded and the petroleum prices be fixed at least for six months instead of revising them every fortnight