A High Court bench on Monday began the hearing on a fresh writ petition that sought the court’s directives to stop the construction of 1,320MW coal-fired power plant at Rampal, on the bank of the Pashur River near the Sundarbans.
The bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Jafar Ahmed fixed tomorrow for further hearing in response to a plea by Attorney General Mahbubey Alam, said Manzill Murshid, lawyer for the petitioners.
He said many environmentalists had cautioned that the plant would be a fatal one for Sundarbans, which will ultimately prove disastrous for Bangladesh. Their arguments could not be ruled out.
Manzill told the Dhaka Tribune: “I informed the court that after storing coal imported from India at Jaflong of Sylhet, the soil and plants in the region had been harmed severely. The coal-based power plant at Rampal near the Sundarbans might also cause severe damage to the area.”
So the court has to direct the government to form a committee comprising of national and international experts to assess the impact of the proposed plant on the environment and the lives of the common people of the surrounding area, he added. The petition was lodged on Sunday by four lawyers including Asaduzzaman Siddiqui and Aklas Uddin Bhuiyan. It sought a stay order on the project until submission of the final report by the experts’ committee.
Earlier, two more petitions were filed against the Rampal project. The High Court on Monday sought copy of orders regarding those petitions.
The Power Development Board had prepared an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report with the help of Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS), another government body. The environment regulator has already approved the EIA.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is likely to inaugurate construction work on the Rampal plant on October 22.
