Regional group urges president, PM to stop Rampal
Local campaigners to observe half-day hartal in capital on Jan 26
The Asian People's Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) has urged President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to stop the construction work of the Rampal power plant project as it will not only endanger the lives of adjoining communities but also have a detrimental effect on climate.
The organisation has joined people's movements and communities in Bangladesh in their struggle to stop building the Rampal power plant, said a press release issued on Friday.
It said the proposed power plant is located 14 kilometres north of the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world that is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The coal project will destroy a living and natural protective fence that helps shield communities from the worst impacts of seasonal typhoons now made more extreme because of climate change.
Besides, the Sundarbans mangrove forest also provides various means of livelihood to more than half a million local inhabitants, according to the release.
The organisation also called on the Export-Import Bank of India to abandon its plan to loan USD 1.6 billion to the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), which is in a joint venture with India's National Thermal Power Company (NTPC) through the Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Ltd.
On the occasion of the January 7 Global Day of Action against the planned Rampal coal power plant, APMDD asked its members and partners to send messages in support of the call to stop the plant.
The organisation called upon all countries including Bangladesh to shift from fossil fuels to renewable and clean energy sources such as wind and solar.
HALF-DAY HARTAL IN THE CAPITAL ON JANUARY 26
The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports yesterday once again declared that it would observe a half-day hartal in the capital on January 26 if the government does not scrap the Rampal power plant project near the Sundarbans.
Prof Anu Muhammad, member secretary of the committee, reiterated the announcement from a rally in the capital's Shahbagh organised by a cultural alliance named Sarbapran Sanskritk Shakti, while observing “Global Day of Protest”.
“Lives of more than 5 crore people will be affected, and 20-35 lakh people will become refugees if the power plant is established…I request the government to scrap the project before January 25, otherwise we will enforce a half-day hartal on January 26,” said Prof Anu.
He said protest programmes also took place in India, Australia, the UK, the USA, Germany, Italy, Canada and Finland.
Gono Sanghati Andolon's Zonaid Saki, rights activist Khushi kabir also addressed the rally, among others.
According to a press release, Bangladeshi expatriates in Australia held protest rally at the federation square in Melbourne keeping solidarity with the national committee. Urging the Bangladesh government to scrap the project, the speakers held placards saying "Yes to Life, No to Coal, Save Sundarbans".
In support of the hartal, the national committee leaders along with experts and several political party leaders will march from Jatiya Press Club towards Motijheel at 3:00pm today.
Earlier on November 26, the national committee announced a number of programmes from a rally named "Lets march towards Dhaka" at the Central Shaheed Minar.