BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia addresses a press briefing at Gulshan in Dhaka on Wednesday.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia on Wednesday demanded cancellation of the all coal-fired power plant projects at Rampal terming the move anti-people, anti-state, imprudent, illogical and non-profitable saying that the projects would definitely destroy the Sunderbans.
At a press conference at her Gulshan office on behalf of the BNP-led alliance, she also called on people to raise voice in favour for the cancellation of the Rampal power plant projects.
BNP standing committee members and top leaders of the alliance were present.
Reading out a written statement, Khaleda said that there were many alternative methods for generating electricity and many alternative places for installing power plants but there was no alternative to the Sunderbans.
She said that electricity was necessary for the development of the country and smooth public life, but any decision affected the country and its interest, hampered public life, damaged environment and bio-diversity, that would definitely be against the people and the country.
Installation of coal-fired power plants at Rampal in Bagerhat near the Sunderbans is against the country and the people, she said.
She mentioned that the work for setting up 1,320MW coal-based power plant at Rampal only 14 kilometres far from the world’s largest mangrove forest and 565 megawatt Orion coal-fired power plant only 10 kilometres away from the Sunderbans were going ahead despite protests from almost all quarters.
Khaleda said that the ‘anti-people, unelected’ government allocated money for land filling for the Rampal power plant defying protests from environmentalists, social organisations and research institutions of home and abroad and despite examples of serious adverse impact of such kind of projects in different countries.
She said that the ‘autocratic’ government was forcibly imposed the anti-people and anti-state decision defying public opinion.
She said that the government was not only declining to change its position rather taking initiative to expedite the implementation of the anti-people decision although all evidences of inevitable, evil and serious harmful impacts of the Rampal project on the Sunderbans had been presented.
The BNP chief said that the projects were not economically profitable as they would destroy natural protection of the country’s southern region, damage bio-diversity, destroy the lives and livelihood of lakhs of people, pollute environment and water, destroy fertility of agricultural land and destroy fisheries resources.
She said that the government’s illogical stubbornness and hurry in implementing the projects was not only doubtful but a matter of deep concern.
She said that the conspiracy to destroy the UNESCO-announced international heritage site, the Sunderbans, should not be allowed to succeed.
She said the government was going ahead with the Rampal projects ignoring objection from UNESCO world heritage authority and even from the Forest Department of the country.
Khaleda entertained no question from reporters and requested them to project the Rampal issue before people in a better way saying that it was not the matter of BNP or Awami League but of all.
During her 30-minute speech, she was only confined to the issue of Rampal projects and elaborately described multifarious negative impacts of the projects mentioning that Indian government was forced to cancel setting up such coal fired power plant in its own land.
She said that the National Thermal Power Corporation of India, which was setting up the Rampal power plant, had proposed to set up 1,320MW coal-fired power plant at Narsinghpur of Maddhyapradesh in India, but the Indian government cancelled it considering its adverse impact.
The BNP chairperson said that now it was the question of people for what purpose and for whose interest the government was implementing the project knowing very well about its adverse impacts.
She said that the government let police to beat anti-Rampal protesters as it had no satisfactory answer to the question.
Source: New Age
