The convener of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports yesterday said his group would join other environmentalists in preventing the government from building the Rampal power plant.
“We demand the cancellation of the deal to build the Rampal 1320MW coal-fired power plant. Such a plant can be built elsewhere in the country,” Sheikh Mohammad Shahidullah said at the National Press Club in Dhaka yesterday at the launch of a fact-finding mission report on the project.
“We will continue this movement because implementing the project, located just 14 kilometres from the Sundarbans, will destroy the ecological balance of the heritage site,” he said.
South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR), a regional rights organisation, conducted the fact-finding mission from April 5 to 11.
The probe mission visited the site of the power plant and met with key state and non-state stakeholders, including affected villagers, environmentalists, lawyers, academics, journalists, human rights activists and other members of civil society.
None of the stakeholders’ names were disclosed in the report.
Names were not mentioned because disclosure may put informants’ lives at risk, said Sharif Jamil, Bangladeshi member of the Waterkeeper Alliance council, who was involved in preparing the report.
Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Pvt Ltd (BIFPCL) is implementing the Maitree Super Coal-fired Thermal Power Project in Rampal, Bagerhat.
The report said due process was not followed in land acquisition and population relocation. Affected people were not made aware of the facts of the project nor consulted about compensation by the government.
The current environmental impact assessment (EIA) is defective on numerous particulars, the report said.
The SAHR has called upon the government of Bangladesh to suspend all construction and other project activities until a comprehensive, scientific EIA is conducted by impartial and independent experts.
If it is found to be damaging to the Sundarbans, the project must be cancelled immediately and relocated to an environmentally-sustainable site, the report said.
National Committee Member Secretary Prof Anu Mohammad said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should have received Champions of the Earth award after the cancellation the Rampal project. “The award will become a burden because this project will harm the Sundarbans.”
Prof Abdullah Abu Sayeed said that some people in the government want to implement the project at the cost of people, the Sundarbans, biodiversity and peoples’ livelihoods.
“The government should come out of this mentality. We have to stage a tough movement against the project,” he said.
SAHR Bureau Member (Bangladesh) Sultana Kamal said that if the project is implemented, there will be a scarcity of water in the nearby river and the inhabitants of the Sundarbans would leave the area.
SAHR bureau member (Bangladesh) Khushi Kabir, Consumers Association of Bangladesh Adviser Prof Shamsul Alam, Transparency International Bangladesh Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman and Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon General Secretary Abdul Motin also spoke at the programme.
When contacted, BIFPCL Managing Director UK Bhattacharya told the Dhaka Tribune that the report is baseless and the speakers are trying to create a negative impression among the people.
