The BNP has formed a seven-member probe body over the incident of the huge oil spill in Sundarban's Sela river, said a press release.
The committee members are-- BNP Vice-Chairman Major (retd) Mohammad Hafizuddin Ahmed, Khulna divisional unit Assistant Organising Secretary Nazrul Islam Manju,Khulna city Mayor Moniruzzaman Moni,Bagherhat district unit President Abdus Salam, Khulna district unit General Secretary Advocate Shafiqul Islam Mona, Chairman of Save the Sundarbans Dr Sheikh Faridul Islam and environmental journalist Kamrul Islam.
According to the press note, issued on Saturday, the probe committee has been formed as per the direction of the party chief Khaleda Zia.
The investigation team has been asked to submit the report with Khaleda Zia by December 25.
On December 9, a tanker carrying 350,000 litres of furnace oil sank in the Sundarbans Sela river that was salvaged after 55 hours. The oil spread along at least 80km of the river, seriously threatening the delicate ecology of the mangrove forest.
While a major government-led clean-up operation is being delayed by indecision, local people in the area are manually sopping up the floating furnace oil with sponges, encouraged by a Padma Oil offer to purchase the furnace oil for Tk30 per litre.
The clean-up so far has covered an insignificant portion of the volume of the oil spill.
A UN expert team that reached Thursday to help the clean up effort, has slammed authorities for failing to organise a proper clean-up effort of the oil spill, which has now spread 350 sq km (135 sq m) inside the delicate mangrove forest area.
The Sundarbans delta contains the world’s largest unbroken mangrove forest, covering about 10,000sq-km across India and Bangladesh.
The Unesco-listed World Heritage Site is the home to globally endangered species.
The National Geography Traveller, India has listed 10 species at risk from this terrible disaster. They are the rare Irrawady dolphins, the Bengal Tigers, leopard cats, great egrets, rhesus macaques, endemic river terrapin, black-capped kingfishers, chitals, saltwater crocodiles, and the horseshoe crabs – known as a living fossil as it has been dated to 400m years ago.
The massive oil spill in the world’s largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans, has put many of the region’s fauna at severe risk.