Opposition BNP leader Abdul Moyeen Khan Thursday said his party would cancel the coal-based Rampal power project if voted to power in the next elections.
The agreement on the project singed between the governments of Bangladesh and India is “unbalanced” and “illegal,” he said while addressing a roundtable as chief guest.
Save the Sundarbans Foundation and Student Association for Advance jointly organised the discussion titled at the National Press Club. Assistant Professor of North South University Md Golam Sarwar also spoke.
As the project site is near the Sundarbans, environment campaigners have long been raising their voice against the power plant which they said would be threatening to the biodiversity of the world’s largest mangrove forest, which the Unesco had declared a World Heritage Site.
Speaking on the occasion, the BNP Standing Committee member said the project would not only destroy the Sundarbans, but also would be destructive to the ecology of the whole country.
Referring to the agreement, the former minister said it gives Bangladesh 15% share of the project, which is logical, but at the same time it mentioned that Bangladesh is “obliged to bear 100% cost if the project it incurs any loss.”
Ships that are to carry coal to the project site would pollute water of Pashur River and the wetlands of the Sundarbans, Moyeen Khan said.
India cannot use toxic coal in its own land as the “country’s law is against it. Therefore, it is now out to poison Bangladesh’s environment by exporting those in our country,” he claimed.
The minister alleged that the government was going to set up the plant to “please a special quarter. This is why a clearance letter was hurriedly taken from the Department of Environment to this effect.”
