The national committee for protecting the Sundarbans on Friday strongly denounced the government press note issued on Thursday, saying it proved that the government was “unreasonable and irresponsible.”
In the press note issued on Thursday, the government claimed that a section of people and organisations were spreading “propaganda” against the plant, which is set to be established at Rampal in Bagerhat under joint initiative of Bangladesh and India.
At a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters Unity, it placed a three-point demand for shifting the Rampal Thermal Power Plant far away from the Sundarbans, cancelling the plant’s inauguration by the prime minister, and evaluating the project observation reports of the joint committee of local and international specialists.
Member secretary of the national committee for protecting the Sundarbans Abdul Matin on Friday declared their demands.
Addressing the programme, columnist Syed Abul Moksud said the Rampal plant project was against public interest and it would change the country’s geographical map within the next 20 years.
“In a democratic country, a government cannot take up undemocratic projects like the Rampal,” he said. “Because of such behaviour of the government it seems like the country has become a monarch state.”
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association, demanded that the final Environmental Impact Assessment report be made public.
Dhaka University teacher Asif Nazrul alleged that the government had initiated the project just before the election only to please the Indian government.
Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (SHUJAN) General Secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar also spoke at the event.
The government issued the press note to clarify its stance on the project in the face of the long march of environmentalists advancing towards the plant’s site, which is barely 14km off the Sundarbans, in a bid to stall the project.
On Wednesday, prime minister’s Energy Adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury announced that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would lay the foundation stone of the 1,320MW power plant on October 22.