No other English aphorism has been so much admired as the English poet Alexander Pope’s acclaimed phrase “fools rush in where angels fear to tread”—- which found expression in the writings of subsequent distinguished sages like Edmund Burke, Thomas Hardy, E. M. Forster, James Joyce and so on. Furthermore, acknowledged as the author who can be read again and again and benefited from, Forster had borrowed the maxim for his first work of fiction. Moreover, at least a score films and lyrics have made use of the well-liked adage.
The epigram is self-explanatory referring to rashness, impudence or not showing careful thought or good judgment; and hence needs no elaboration. However, to paraphrase it, ignorant or inexperienced individuals get involved in situations that wiser persons avoid.
This we say with reference to the destructive stubborn policy decision concerning the environmentally and ecologically very much wrong site selection of the most controversial coal-based electricity generating plant near the Sundarbans by the ruling Awami League government headed by Sheikh Hasina vis-à-vis a daily newspaper headline —- “A power plant like Rampal would never be allowed in India,” dated 23 August 2016. [Vide dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2016/08/23/power-plant-like-rampal ].
The news item details the disapproval of the Rampal power station project by eminent Indian experts who conspicuously and unequivocally echo what the National Committee to Protect Oil Gas Mineral Resources Power and Ports (NCPOGMRPP) leaders, ecologists and technical experts have been cogently arguing against the site that would be perilous for human habitation and cause ultimate extinction of the UNESCO World Heritage Sundarbans over the last four years.
Indeed, great minds think alike—-be it in Bangladesh or in India, but the state actors of both the countries behave arrogantly, oblivious of objective condition and ground reality. Here it is pertinent to refer to the article “Rampal power plant: A project of deception and mass destruction” written by Anu Muhammad on19 Sep 2013 [Vide http opinion. bdnews24.com/ 2013/09/19/rampal-power-plant-a-project-of-deception-and-mass-destruction].
As the news report goes, several Indian experts have expressed “disbelief at how Bangladesh government even approved the coal-based Rampal power plant in the first place, saying such a project near a vulnerable environment site like the Sundarbans would have been shot down in India at the first instance”. Indian environment specialists and rights activists said that no matter what the government in both countries claim, the construction of the 1,320MW Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant at Rampal in Bagerhat would “surely have dire consequences on the Sundarbans.”
A vocal opponent of the Rampal project is the chairman of West Bengal Pollution Control Board, Dr Kalyan Rudra, who said: “There is no precedence—not in West Bengal or India—of constructing a thermal power plant so close to a reserved forest.
“According to a list of India’s central Environment Ministry, this thermal power plant falls under the ‘red category industry’—meaning this industry is extremely dangerous for environment. This [plant] produces both effluent and emission. So there cannot even be a question of setting up such a plant near a reserved forest [Sundarban].”
The Indian experts also said it was “incomprehensible why the NTPC Limited—India’s largest thermal power agency—was building a plant near a mangrove forest in Bangladesh when it had never done so near any mangrove forest in India”. Cautioning about the river pollution hazard caused by the Rampal plant, Dr Rudra said how ashes produced by West Bengal’s Bakreshwar Thermal Power Station situated on the western bank of Hooghly River, destroyed biodiversity. The waste ashes from the thermal power plant had killed off all fishes, insects, algae, crabs of the river.
Indian environmentalists also expressed their worries about the fate of the Bengal Tigers that are native to the Sundarbans. Gauri Maulekhi, a trustee for the animal rights organisation People for Animals, said she had no doubt that the activities of the Rampal thermal power plant would destroy the natural habitat of tigers in the Sundarbans. It was impossible to prevent pollution at a place so close to a thermal power plant, she said.
Despite all the warnings and protests, India’s NTPC Ltd continues to insist that the Rampal project would have almost no impact on the Sundarbans. An NTPC spokesperson declined to make any comments on this issue.
Meanwhile, a video of a demonstration before the Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Mr Harsh Vardhan Shringla, against the proposed Rampal power plant project has gone viral on the popular social media Facebook. In the video, a group of youths are seen to stage the demonstration on Dhaka University campus when Mr. Shringla went there to attend a programme on August 17. The 45-second video shows youths are forming a human chain on both sides of the road holding placards that read “Go back NTPC”, “Go back India” and in protest of killings of Bangladeshi national at the borders by Indian Border Security Force (BSF) when Mr Shringla entered the premises of Faculty of Fine Arts. [August 17, 2016; the dailystar.net/ country/ protest – rampal- issue-du-presence -indian-envoy-1271194]
Recently the BBC Sanglap dwelt on the issue and sought to find whether or not these apolitical left-leaning people are pointing finger at India.
As a matter of fact, the Indo-Bangla relations have been stormy with occasional proxy skirmishes and conflicts. Unquestionably India was of great help during our Liberation War in 1971. But infrequently friendly India has been hostile and intimidating to her small, ever-grateful neighbour Bangladesh. These were—- Farakka Barrage and very bitter history of Ganges water sharing; brutal killing of thousands of innocent unarmed Bangladeshi civilians by trigger-happy BSF soldiers of India in the border districts; the Chittagong Hill Tract tribal Shanti Bahini’s armed guerrilla fights against Bangladesh Army [Vide http:/ /cht-terrorism. blogspot.com/ 2014/03/ Shanti-Bahini-were -trained-armed-by-India.html]; Indo-Bangla critical trade imbalance, para-tariff barriers and so on. What is more, India wants friendship with the Awami League leaders, not the people of Bangladesh.
It is time for Indian leaders to rethink and introspect for the sake of lasting—-not temporary—-friendship between the two neighbours.
Source: Weekly Holiday