Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity (JKS) has protested the government’s decision to hike the diesel-run bus fare by 27 per cent per kilometre after the owners went on a wildcat strike against rise in fuel price. The fare hike was announced on Sunday after a meeting with the bus owners in Dhaka. It prompted the owners to call off the strike enforced on Friday morning. It will be effective from Monday. Read: Strike called off as bus fares raised The JKS also protested its exclusion from the meeting. It will hold a press conference on Monday to give details on its protest against the new fare, said the organization's Secretary General Mozammel Haque Chowdhury. In a state JKS also said the government had illegally increased the price of diesel and kerosene by 23 per cent without holding a public hearing.

The government on Wednesday raised the prices of diesel and kerosine at the retail level. As per the new price, the diesel and kerosene will be selling at Tk 80 per litre instead of Tk 65 with effect from zero hour on Thursday, said a press release of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.  It said the prices of other petroleum products will remain unchanged.  It clarified that the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has been incurring a loss of Tk 20 crore per day as it is selling diesel at Tk 13.01 lower per litre and furnace oil at Tk 6.21 per litre, lower than their imported prices.   It said the petroleum prices have been readjusted against the backdrop of price hike of petroleum on the international market.