Although experts have repeatedly expressed concern that Rampal coal-fired power plant will put the Sundarbans at risk, the government has paid no heed. Rather, the government is setting up the plant stating that it has taken up various initiatives to protect the world’s largest mangrove forest. We are concerned too over the government’s contradictory stance concerning the Sundarbans.
US president Joe Biden’s special envoy on climate, John Kerry, has also bluntly raised the question during his talks with Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen. Mr. Kerry raised the US objection to the construction of Rampal coal-fired power plant, says a news report published in a national daily on Wednesday, quoting several government sources present at the talks between Kerry and Momen. At that meeting Mr. Momen apprised Mr. Kerry of the government’s various initiatives to protect the Sundarbans.
John Kerry came to Dhaka on April 9 to hand over an invitation to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to join the “Leaders’ Summit on Climate”, being organised by US president Joe Biden. The summit is to be held on April 22 and 23 in the US. However, due to the coronavirus surge, it is being held virtually. During his meeting with the prime minister, Mr. Kerry said that the US stance is against coal-fired power plants, among other things. He mentioned that they are one of the main causes of environmental damage.
Sources at the national committee for the protection of Sundarbans and Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan said top scientists of the world have observed that the technology being used in the Rampal project is of low standard. Bangladesh is setting up this project in collaboration with the National Thermal Power Corporation of India (NTPC). In consideration of the damaging impact of such projects, in 2010 the Indian environment ministry drew up regulations against such power plants within 25-kilometre radius of forests and environmentally sensitive sites. But the Rampal plant site is within a 14-km distance from the Sundarbans. If it is not safe for India, how can it be safe for Bangladesh?
In 1997, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) declared the Sundarbans a World Heritage Site and has been raising objections to the Rampal project since 2018. A study carried out by UNESCO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on the Rampal project says that it will do an irreparable harm to the Sundarbans. This may also cause the Sundarbans to lose its status as a world heritage site.
The government paid no heed to the protests for not to go ahead with this lethal project and think of an alternative for international help. The government appears to be above the people and not for the people. Elected or not the government must keep in mind what is best for the country.
