Staff Reporter :
To register protest against the implementation of Rampal Power Plant, the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, and other green groups on Thursday started a ‘long march’ towards the Sundarbans.
The protesters demanded to the government to scrap the power projects immediately, which may appear as a threat to the Sundarbans– the world’s largest mangrove forest.
The four-day-long “long march” began from the premises of the National Press Club at 10am yesterday. President of the national committee Engineer Sheikh Muhammad Shahidullah inaugurated the long march. Several thousand activists of different left leaning parties, mainly from Workers Party, Communist Party of Bangladesh [CPB], BSD, and Ganosanghati Andolon joined the long march with a motorcade of buses. The long march will reach Faridpur on Thursday afternoon and reach Khulna on Friday and finally reach Rampal area in the Sundarbans on March 13.
The protesters will hold rallies at Jahangirnagar University, Manikganj, Faridpur, Magura, Jhenidah, Jessore, Noapara, Daulatpur and Khulna during the long march, apparently to create awareness among the public against the projects. Member Secretary of the National Committee Professor Anu Mohammad said, “Rampal project is a project of betrayal. It’s a destructive project. We will resist implementation of the project through a united movement.”
“The government is implementing the Rampal power project to serve the interest of Indian profit-monger businessmen. Not only that, the project is going to be implemented ignoring all opinions of the international experts,” he said. The coal-fired power plant will be constructed 14 kilometres upstream of the Sundarbans Reserve Forest, a world heritage site declared by UNESCO. Pointing the issue, Prof Anu further said, “Like the BNP, some Awami League leaders are also against the project but they could not say this in public as it would go against the party’s stance. We think, the mass procession will create awareness among the people about the significance of the Sundarbans.”
Earlier, in September 2013, the same committee had observed a long march from Dhaka to Rampal. It was just a month before the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated construction of the 1320MW power plant.
Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Ltd [BIFPCL], a joint venture of Power Development Board [PDB] and NTPC of India, is developing the Maitree Super Thermal Power Project at Rampal which will use imported coal. India’s state-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd or BHEL has won the deal to build the plant where they would adopt super critical technology in the plant.
Besides, a local firm Orion Group is building a 566MW power plant in Rampal area.
Meanwhile, the environmentalists have been opposing the coal plants for long time. They have been apprehending that the projects would pose major threat on the biodiversity of the forest, water species and livelihood of the people who depend on the forest’s resources. In this backdrop, the national committee demanded an environmental impact assessment for the Rampal plant by international independent experts under the supervision of the United Nations.
Several organization, including international rights bodies and environment groups, have urged the Bangladesh government for relocation of the plant to save the ecosystem of the Sundabans. But all went in vain.
