Abandon Rampal power plant project: national committee

Leaders of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports on Thursday called on the government to abandon the coal fired Rampal and Orion power plants in the vicinity of the Sunderbans.
The National committee organised a rally in front of the National Press Club, where member secretary of the committee Anu Muhammad said both the plants—if completed—would affect the Sunderbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world.
He said the government has been propagating that the projects would not affect the Sunderbans. He urged the government not to make any false statements regarding the plants’ impact on the environment.
Anu Muhammad also called on the government to formulate some specific regulations to save the Sunderbans.
The National committee will go for greater movement if the government goes ahead with executing the projects, he said.
He called on the left and progressive political parties to join the national convention—scheduled to be held in the capital on November 14—to intensify the movement for conserving the mangrove forest.
Sheikh Muhammad Shaheedullah, the convener of the National committee, said the government is implementing the Rampal plant to make the Indian government happy.
The Indian company, NTPC, would benefit most from the project, he said. Bangladesh government has formed a joint venture with that Indian company.
He called on the government to take steps to realise the seven-point demands of the National committee that included saving the country’s natural resources, implementing Phulbari agreements and not implementing open pit coal mine.
Ruhin Hossain Prince, a central leader of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, conducted the rally.
National committee leaders Syed Abu Zafar Ahmed, Tipu Biswas, Saiful Huq, Bazlur Rashid Firoz, Zonayed Saki, Mosharraf Hossain Nannu, Jahangir Alam Fazlu, Subak Sarker, Shamsul Alam, Shahidul Islam Sabuj and many others attended the programme.
The rally was followed by a protest procession that paraded different city roads.

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