Anisul Islam Noor :Experts on Wednesday strongly protested the signing of EPC agreement to implement the 1320 MW Maitree Super Thermal Power Project at Rampal Upazila under Bagerhat district, urging the government to scrape the project immediately. They heavily came down on the government on Wednesday as Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company (Pvt) Limited (BIFPCL) signed the agreement in city for Main Plant EPC (Turnkey) Package with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), India on Tuesday.They termed the July 12 as a black day in the history of Bangladesh saying if the project is implemented, country’s mangrove Sundarbans will be destroyed once.Abut four crore people will be affected if the project is implemented, they warned. They also staged demonstration in front of the National Press Club yesterday demanding immediate cancellation of the project. The climate, topography, land use pattern, wetlands, floral and faunal diversity, capture fisheries tourism and the quality of air and water – both on the surface and underground – in the Sundarbans will be badly affected permanently if the project is implemented, they cautioned. They said that they do not want electricity in exchange of Sundarbans. However, the experts demanded of the government to shift the power plant project to any other suitable place of the country from Rampal adjacent to the world heritage site declared by the UNESCO.”We are frustrated. We are here to raise our voice against the government’s move to implement the project. We are also aggrieved as why the project is going to be implemented here instead of Indian site of the Sundarbans,” Sundarbans Raksha Jatiya Committee Convener Advocate Sultana Kamal said at a protest rally. She also termed the project as suicidal for the country, urging the government to cancel it immediately for the greater interest of country and its people.Apart from people of Bangladesh, Indians also protested the project. When contacted Prof M Shamsul Alam also termed Rampal project as unscientific, requesting the authority concerned to conduct survey again. TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman said Bangladesh people need electricity.”But we don’t want electricity by destroying our Sundarbans,” he said. Member Secretary of the National Committee to Protect Oil Gas Mineral Resources Power and Ports Prof Anu Muhammed said the Rampal Power Project will have to be scrapped immediately as it will affect the Sundarbans severely. “Sundarbans is not for Bangladesh but it is also for the globe,” he added. Dr Abdul Matin said that if the government goes for alternative location, then environmentalists will have no objection about the project.BELA Executive Director Syeda Rizwana Hasan said if the project is implemented there will be no Sundarbans in the country’s map.According to India’s EIA [Environmental Impact Assessment] Guideline 2010, no power plant can be built within 25 kilometres of forests but in special cases it said 10 km in permissible. But, the same rule was not followed in Bangladesh’s case.
