Staff Reporter :
National Committee to Protect Oil-Gas-Natural Resources and Power-Port has announced fresh action programme on Saturday demanding again the cancellation of the coal power plant at Rampal.
The National Committee claimed that 99 percent people will cast their votes against the Rampal Power Plant if the government would put the issue on vote.
The committee blasted the government for signing a deal on July 12 between Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Ltd (BIFPCL) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) for installing power plant at Rampal, near Sundarbans.
The committee will arrange demonstration near Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on July 28.
Its other programme included countrywide demonstrations on July 18 and a rally in front of the Jatiya Press Club at 4 pm, road march in Dhaka and in the districts around Rampal Project on July 19-25.
A protest procession will be brought out on the day (July 28) from the Jatiya Press Club at 11 am towards the PMO. Leaders of the National Committee announced the programme at a press conference at Mukti Bhaban in the city yesterday.
Addressing the press conference, the National Committee member-secretary Prof Anu Mohammad said India wants to implement the Rampal Project as part of their `strategic interest`.
“The circumstantial evidence suggests India is keen to implement the Rampal Project to make their presence in the Bay of Bengal coast,” replying a question he told reporters.
He said Bangladesh’s strategy should be getting out of Rampal Project as soon as possible as this project will be harmful for bilateral relations between India and Bangladesh.
Other leaders of the committee Haider Akbar Khan Rono, Saiful Haque, Bazlur Rashid Feroz, Advocate Abdus Salam, and Prof Moshahida Sultana were present also on the occasion.
The Rampal power station is proposed to based 1320 megawatt coal-fired power station at Rampal Upazila of Bagerhat District in Khulna. It is a joint partnership between India’s state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation and Bangladesh Power Development Board.
The joint venture company is known as Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company Limited (BIFPCL). The proposed project, on an area of over 1834 acres of land, is situated 14 kilometres north of the world’s largest mangrove forest Sundarbans which is a UNESCO world heritage site.
In August 2010, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and India’s state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) where they designated to implement the project by 2016.
On January 29, 2012, BPDB signed an agreement with NTPC to build the plant. The BPDB and the NTPC agreed to implement the project on a 50:50 equity basis. The NTPC will set up and operate the plant. Bangladesh and India will equally share up to 30 per cent of the capital of this project as equity. The remainder of the capital, which might be equivalent to USD 1.5 billion, will be taken as bank loans with help from the NTPC.
National Committee to Protect Oil-Gas-Natural Resources and Power-Port has announced fresh action programme on Saturday demanding again the cancellation of the coal power plant at Rampal.
The National Committee claimed that 99 percent people will cast their votes against the Rampal Power Plant if the government would put the issue on vote.
The committee blasted the government for signing a deal on July 12 between Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Ltd (BIFPCL) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) for installing power plant at Rampal, near Sundarbans.
The committee will arrange demonstration near Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on July 28.
Its other programme included countrywide demonstrations on July 18 and a rally in front of the Jatiya Press Club at 4 pm, road march in Dhaka and in the districts around Rampal Project on July 19-25.
A protest procession will be brought out on the day (July 28) from the Jatiya Press Club at 11 am towards the PMO. Leaders of the National Committee announced the programme at a press conference at Mukti Bhaban in the city yesterday.
Addressing the press conference, the National Committee member-secretary Prof Anu Mohammad said India wants to implement the Rampal Project as part of their `strategic interest`.
“The circumstantial evidence suggests India is keen to implement the Rampal Project to make their presence in the Bay of Bengal coast,” replying a question he told reporters.
He said Bangladesh’s strategy should be getting out of Rampal Project as soon as possible as this project will be harmful for bilateral relations between India and Bangladesh.
Other leaders of the committee Haider Akbar Khan Rono, Saiful Haque, Bazlur Rashid Feroz, Advocate Abdus Salam, and Prof Moshahida Sultana were present also on the occasion.
The Rampal power station is proposed to based 1320 megawatt coal-fired power station at Rampal Upazila of Bagerhat District in Khulna. It is a joint partnership between India’s state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation and Bangladesh Power Development Board.
The joint venture company is known as Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company Limited (BIFPCL). The proposed project, on an area of over 1834 acres of land, is situated 14 kilometres north of the world’s largest mangrove forest Sundarbans which is a UNESCO world heritage site.
In August 2010, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and India’s state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) where they designated to implement the project by 2016.
On January 29, 2012, BPDB signed an agreement with NTPC to build the plant. The BPDB and the NTPC agreed to implement the project on a 50:50 equity basis. The NTPC will set up and operate the plant. Bangladesh and India will equally share up to 30 per cent of the capital of this project as equity. The remainder of the capital, which might be equivalent to USD 1.5 billion, will be taken as bank loans with help from the NTPC.
