Dhaka – The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, and Power, Port has threatened to enforce a half-day shutdown in Dhaka on Jan 26 if the Rampal power plant project near the Sundarbans is not scrapped.
Oil-Gas Committee Member Secretary Prof Anu Muhammad made the announcement at a rally organised in the capital’s Shahbagh by ‘Sarbapran Sangskritik Shakti’, an organisation of cultural activists, as part of ‘Global Protest Day for Sundarbans’.
At the call of the national committee demonstrations to protect the sundarbans were held in cities and towns of about countries. Human chains, protest meetings and demonstrations were held in London, Berlin, Festplassen, Bergen in Norway; Guangju, South Korea; Bolonia town in Italy; the Hague in the Netherlands according to messages received in Dhaka.
In Dhaka Prof. Anu Mohammad said, “Over 100 commercial projects, including Rampal and Orion coal-fired power plants, which are destructive to the forest, have surrounded the Sundarbans.”
He said the government is even ignoring international call to scrap the Rampal power plant project to “safeguard the interests of Indian power company NTPC and other foreign and domestic plunderers”.
“The honourable prime minister (Sheikh Hasina) is holding environment medal in one hand and death warrant (of the Sundarbans) in the other hand,” he added.
He referred to some surveys and claimed 90 percent people of the country are against the Rampal project.
“People with conscience, who understand the importance of life and nature, will never accept this project,” Prof Anu said.
He urged the people of Dhaka to help make the Jan 26 shutdown a success if the project is not scrapped by that time.
He also said demonstrations were held in India’s New Delhi and Kolkata, Australia’s Melbourne, Finland, the UK, Italy, France and Germany in solidarity of the ‘Global Protest Day for Sundarbans’.
A cultural programme and a protest march were held in Shahbagh.
A message from Norway said: Activists for Protecting the Sundarbarns (APS) arranged a very successful demonstration on 7 January, 2017 at Festplassen, Bergen, Norway.
Being global citizen, participants asked Bangladesh government to stop the sheer economic and environmental folly of Rampal Power Plant project. They expressed their deep concern to protect Sundarbans, the largest man-grove forest in the world, for the future generations. They also suggested that considering worldwide citizens´ concerns and independent experts´ reports, government must immediately stop this project.
Apart from the Bangladeshi expatriates and immigrants living in Bergen several foreigners also participated to show their solidarity for saving the largest mangrove forest in the world. Finally, the organisers concluded by thanking the participating activists to keep continuing their movement until government stops this Rampal Power Plant. – Agencies and GreenWatch Dhaka.
