Media reports on Saturday said a cargo vessel carrying 600 tons of coal capsized in the Pashur River near the Sundarbans in Mongla of Bagerhat. The mishap of the vessel named “MV Naomi” occurred off the Mongla port on Thursday night as it hit a substance on the riverbed, say officials. Owners of the vessel have been asked to salvage it within 15 days and shift the coal from the sunken vessel within 72 hours.
Reportedly, accidents of coal-laden vessels in the Sundarbans mangrove forest area have been reported many times in recent years, with the green groups expressing concern over the contamination of water. MV Fardin-1, a lighter barge, while transporting 600 tons of coal sunk after it collided with a vessel near Harbaria-9 of the mangrove forest on Nov 15 last year. Then several staff of the vessel died. Earlier on March 30, another vessel named “MV Efty Mahmud” carrying 700 tons of coal sank in the Pashur River close to Mongla Port. On February 27 the same year, a cargo named “MV BB-1148” loaded with 800 tons of coal capsized near Baniashanta when it collided with another vessel.
Experts have repeatedly said that when the Rampal power plant will go into production it will put the mangrove forest at further risk. However, the government has paid no heed. US president Joe Biden’s special envoy for climate change, John Kerry, during his visit to Bangladesh on April 9 last handed over an invitation to join the ‘Leaders Summit on Climate,’ has raised the question about government’s stance regarding the Sundarbans in his talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart. He raised the US objection to the construction of the Rampal coal-fired power plant. Earlier in 2017, the former US vice president, environmentalist Al Gore, also urged the prime minister to halt the construction of the plant.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 1997 declared the Sundarbans as a World Heritage Site. The UN body has been raising objections to the Rampal project since 2018. Even they asked for the project to be shifted away from the Sundarbans as it will do irreparable harm to the mangrove forest. We want to remind the government that the Sundarbans was instrumental in saving thousands of people from certain death and destruction when cyclones and other natural disasters struck Bangladesh. We have to save it for our own interest.
