Anisul Islam Noor :Member-secretary of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports Anu Muhammad has said about ten lakh people will lose their livelihood while lives and property of more four crore people will be in threat due to the impact of Rampal Power Plant.He called on the government to refrain from implementing this coal-based Rampal thermal power plant to save the Sundarbans, the biggest mangrove forest in the world, as well as the livelihood of vast people of the areas from destruction.The call came from a rally at Daspara in Bagherhaat on Sunday as part the five-day Dhaka-Rampal road march which has started on March 10 from Dhaka for raising mass awareness. He also referred to a report where Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhit has observed that it will not be possible to drop the Rampal project though it will do some damage to the Sundarbans.Anu Muhammad questioned why it will not be possible to drop the project and for whose interests?Meanwhile, the concerned circle said setting up of Rampal Power Plant is against the Ramsar Convention. It is the only global environmental treaty that deals with the preservation of wetlands. Bangladesh signed the convention in 1992. Sundarbans and Tanguar Haor are marked as Ramsar area. The authority of the global body has expressed worry about the proposed Rampal plant, the concerned circle said.However, the government is determined to implement proposed 1320 megawatt coal-fired power station at Rampal Upazila of Bagerhat district under the auspices of joint-venture Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company (Pvt.) Limited (BIFPCL).According to the government, the power plant would not hamper environment and bio-diversity of the Sunderbans as the BIFPCL is going to set up most sophisticated technological applications along with environment friendly method.Expressing determination, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said the country’s largest power plant will be constructed on an area of over 1834 acres of land, which is about 14 kilometres north of the Sundarbans. “A section of people are spreading confusion about the power plant, though all environmental issues will be preserved in the project areas,” he said. “The proposed power plant is a joint partnership between India’s state owned National Thermal Power Corporation and Bangladesh Power Development Board. But some groups and organizations are spreading misleading and baseless propaganda against the power plant,” he said.A study report said, in 2010 the Indian central and state authorities which deal with environmental concerns in India denied the proposal of NTPC to set up a similar coal-fired thermal power plant at Gajmara in Gadarwara of Madhya Pradesh over a number of points. NTPC also failed to get approval of the Indian Central Green Panel (Green Tribunal) for the construction of that coal-fired thermal power plant because a vast portion of double-crop agricultural land reportedly comprised the site, a similar situation to Rampal, the study report added.
