Rampal power plant: National Committee calls sit-in on August 20

Leaders of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Recourses, Power and Ports on Saturday at a protest rally in front of the National Press Club called on the government to refrain from implementing the coal based Rampal Thermal Power plant at Rampal in Bagerhat.
The proposed plant would destroy the Suderbans, the biggest mangrove forest in the world and the natural environment of the area, they said.
The national committee organised the rally protesting at police attacks on the march of the committee towards the prime minister’s office in the city on Thursday where more than 50 leaders and activists were wounded and six people were picked up by police.
Anu Muhammad, the member secretary of the committee who chaired the rally, called on the government to refrain from implementing the destructive plant and said they would announce tougher agitation programmes to compel the government to withdraw the project.
He called on all professionals and people from all walks of life, especially the youth, to join the programme.
The national committee will hold countrywide sit in programme on August 20 and centrally it will hold a day long sit in programme at Central Shaheed Minar on the day, Anu announced.
Moreover it will observe Phulbari Day on August 26, remembering the three people who were killed in police firing in 2006, at Phulbari in Dinajpur, and will hold mass contact programmes countrywide during the month of August.
Academic AN Rasheda said at the rally that the government was implementing the power plant at Rampal knowing that it would destroy Suderbans.
She called on the government to shift the venue of the project from Rampal.
Dhaka University teacher Mohammad Tanzimuddin Khan said that the government was going to implement the project to satisfy the Indian government.
Another DU teacher Moshahida Sultana called on the students and the youth to join the movement of the national committee to save Suderbans and nature.
Lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua called on the government to take opinions from people before implementing the Rampal power plant.
Leaders of committee, left politicians Syed Abu Zafar Ahmed, Tipu Biswas, Shubhrangshu Chakrabarty, Mosharraf Hossain Nannu, Saiful Huq, Ruhin Hossain Prince, Razequzzaman Ratan, Zonayed Saki, Mushrefa Mishu, Quamrul Ahsan, Subal Sarker and Mohinuddin Chowdhury Liton attended the programme.
The rally was followed by a protest procession that paraded different city roads.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net