Major opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) yesterday slammed the government over its ‘rigid’ stance on the Rampal power plant near the world’s biggest mangrove forest Sundarbans despite Unesco’s advice to relocate it to any other safer place.
“Unesco has recommended shifting of the power plant project to a safer place as the Sundarbans will be badly affected if it is set up at Rampal. The entire nation is surprised as the government is showing its rigid stance over it ignoring public interest and Sundarbans’ risk,” BNP senior leader Shamsuzzaman Dudu said.
The BNP leader was reacting to comments of State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid that work on Rampal power plant will not be suspended.
The minister said the government will respond to the Unesco’s letter about the Rampal power plant by a week.
Bangladesh and India are jointly constructing the Rampal project to build a 1,320 megawatt coal-fired power plant at a site near the
Sundarbans.
Dudu, a BNP vice chairman, said Indian power company BHEL, which has been awarded a contract to build the plant, did not provide Unesco with adequate information about the technology and equipment to be used to check environmental affect to the Sundarbans.
He called upon people irrespective of their party and opinion to get united against the government’s obstinate attitude towards setting up the power plant.
The BNP leader also criticised the prime minister for her remarks that there is adequate scope for doing politics in Bangladesh now, saying there is no iota of truth in her comment.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, now in the USA, in an interview with the Voice of America said, “We’ve not snatched anybody’s right of expression … they (BNP) are holding meetings, taking out processions and all other activities. Undoubtedly, there’s adequate scope for doing
politics in Bangladesh.”
Reacting to the prime minister’s remark, he said there is no normal political atmosphere in the country now as they cannot freely hold any meeting and rally. “We’re allowed to hold indoor meetings within a very limited time. But, there’s no scope for holding any outdoor meeting. Even, we get permission for indoor meeting 12 or 24 hours before the programme.”
Dudu also slammed the government for showing arrested Gazipur City Corporation Mayor M A Mannan in a fresh case after he got bail in all the cases filed against him. “We strongly condemn and protest the government’s move.”