Nat’l committee to place alternative master plan on power
National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports today said that it would place an alternative master plan on power to the government on March 18.
Speaking at a sit-in in front of the Jatiya Press Club, member secretary of the committee Prof Anu Muhammad announced the decision terming the plan as “erroneous” and “self contradictory”.
“We will place an alternative master plan on power on March 18,” he said.
The committee staged the sit-in across the country protesting the government move to construct the coal-based Rampal Power Plant near the Sundarbans and recent gas price hike. Sit-in programme in Chittagong faced police’s obstruction, reports our correspondent.
The 1,320-megawatt coal-fired power project, which is being jointly implemented by Bangladesh and India some 14 kilometres off the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest and a World Heritage Site, has drawn widespread criticism and protests from different quarters at home and abroad.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) urged the government to relocate the plant to a “more suitable location” where it would not have a negative impact on the Sundarbans.
The government, however, vowed to continue the project saying they will ensure all aspects so that the power plant can not harm Sundarbans.
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Prof Anu said several lakhs people will become “environmental refugee” once the power plant is constructed while lives of some five crore people be affected, Yet, the government is running advertisements terming the “destructive project” as a “project for development.”
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In one side, the government is carrying out attacks on the protesters with police and criminals, on the other hand, spreading falsehood about the project through advertisements, Prof Anu said adding that in last six months, all of their programmes faced obstruction from police.
He vowed to continue their movement against the power plant and will hold rallies in coastal area in the first week of April. National Committee leaders Tipu Biswas, Bazlur Rashid Firoz, Moshrefa Mishu, among others spoke at the programme.
Meanwhile, police in Chittagong obstructed the sit-in programme against Rampal project. The protesters, however, later took to the street in front of the Chittagong Press Club and held a rally.
READ MORE: Regional group urges president, PM to stop Rampal
Law enforcers locked into scuffle with the activists of national committee and tried to snatch the banner of the programme while they were assembling at the Chittagong Press Club premises around 11:30am.
The committee leaders claimed three activists --Arifuzzaman, Shawkat Ali and Md Rabin -- of the committee were injured as police charged baton on them during the scuffle.
Officer-in-charge (OC) Jasim Uddin, however, denied to charging baton on any activist of the committee.
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“They (committee activists) tried to hold the programme on the road obstructing the vehicular movement. We just moved them from the street”, said the OC.
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