If the government implements the proposed power plant project at Rampal near the Sundarban, it will violate Ecologically Critical Area (ECA) Act, Bangladesh Environment Conservation Rules, Forest Acts and the Convention on Biological Diversity, experts have warned. Rights organizations pointed out that if the power plant is set up at the proposed location, the government would violate the conditions of the Ramsar Convention, to which Bangladesh is a signatory.
Bangladesh signed the Ramsar convention in 1972, which is aimed at conserving the world’s natural forests and wetlands to save biodiversity and ecology.
Eminent environmentalist Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), has demanded formulation of a special and unitary law to ensure the protection of the Sundarban.
The existing laws on forest administration have a great deal of irrelevancies and are not cohesive. The law mentions forest administration, but it does not contain proper guidelines and specific instructions regarding that, she told The Independent.
Green activists have demanded that the government should relocate all power plants, including the Rampal thermal power plant, which is close to the Sundarban, a world heritage site, to protect the mangrove forest from any adverse impact.
The ecology of the Sundarban, the world’s largest mangrove forest, will be destroyed if the thermal power plant is built, environmental experts said. They also suggested that the government should select another site for setting up the power plant, proposed to be established at Rampal of Bagerhat, some 10 kilometres off the mangrove forest.
India is financing the coal-fired thermal power plant, which is being set up by the government in Rampal area of Bagerhat district.
The government has started acquisition of 186 acres of land for setting up the 1,320-megawatt power plant.
Mojahedul Islam, secretary of the Centre for Human Rights, said if the power plant is set up at the present location, the government would violate the conditions of the Ramsar Convention.
“The government should go by the rules and regulations of the international Ramsar convention as a signatory nation,” said Mojahedul Islam of the Centre for Human Rights.
On 10 February, 2010, the Centre for Human Rights submitted a writ petition. He said a hearing is yet to take place.
Bangladesh Paribesh Andalan (BAPA) general secretary Dr Abdul Matin told the Independent that the proposed thermal power plant will “destroy the ecological balance and biodiversity” of the Sundarban by excessively spewing effluents such as sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and chlorofluorocarbons.
“Apart from these harmful substances, the power plant will also release huge amounts of hot water, which will destroy the freshwater dolphin and various species of fish in water bodies surrounding the Sundarban,” he added.
Sheikh Md Shahidullah of The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, expressed concern over the plying of oil tankers and other vessels in the water channels in the Sundarban area. He said it this will damage
the flora and fauna of the forest by releasing oils and other harmful substances, which may leak from the vessels.
“The Sunderbans is our national asset; it is a violation of the Constitution to destroy the forest,” Advocate Sultana Kamal said. She added, “We want not only to stop the Rampal power plant but also stop all activities that can destroy the Sunderbans.”
Prof Anu Muhammad, the economist and political activist, complained that when environmental experts had given their opinion against the Rampal power plant, the Indian high commissioner had brushed it aside, calling it a rumour.
When the country’s eminent environmentalists are clamouring against the construction of the Rampal project at the Sunderbans, a responsible diplomat like the Indian high commissioner has termed this a “rumour,” the Jahangirnagar professor added. His attitude is unfortunate and frustrating, he said.
Indian laws say that no thermal power plant can be erected within a 25-mile area of a forest. So such a comment is not expected from a responsible person, he said. It is contradictory to the laws of his own land, he added.
Meanwhile, on July 20, a 101-member committee was formed to ascertain and formulate a position paper and strategy on the Sunderbans on the basis of a consensus among environmentalists. The committee, called the National Committee for Protecting the Sundarbans, was convened by rights leader Advocate Sultana Kamal. BAPA general secretary Abdul Matin has been elected the member secretary of the committee.
-With The Independent input
