The Tankers Association in West Bengal decided on Tuesday to suspend their indefinite strike demanding higher rates for 15 days, after an appeal by West Bengal Transport Minister Subhas Chakraborty.
Supplies to petrol pumps would resume from 4 pm, association's office bearers said.
"We have decided to defer our strike for 15 days after an appeal by the transport minister and considering the hardship faced by the people in the state," West Bengal Tankers Association President Ajit Das announced after a meeting with Chakraborty.
The association would not sign any agreement with oil companies as of now, he said.
"I appealed to the tankers' association to defer the strike and resume supply from 4 pm. They have faced the problem for long, I requested them to bear with the situation for another 15 days. I hope that some solution will be found," Chakraborty said.
Chakraborty had a talk with Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Monday night.
Deora said from Riyadh that he spoke to Chakraborty and assured him that the demands of oil tankers association will be looked into once he is back from his trip to Yemen and Libya.
But first, the tanker owners should call off the strike so that the public are not put to inconvenience, Deora had said.
Though the oil companies offered only Rs 122.67 for carrying per kl within the free delivery zone, he pushed for Rs 130 for per kl.
Earlier in the day, the Indian Oil Corporation had sought assistance from the West Bengal government for moving out its tankers from its depot in Mourigram in view of the ongoing tankers' strike, which has triggered a severe fuel crisis in Kolkata and adjoining districts.
According to another report, the city and its adjoining districts were reeling with petrol pumps going dry following the indefinite strike by the West Bengal Tankers Association, which entered the sixth day on Tuesday.
Most pumps in the metropolis and adjoining North and South 24-Parganas besides Howrah and Hooghly districts had put up 'no stock' boards.
