<i>"Phulbari": Highlighting the mass protest against open-pit mining</i>

A scene from the documentary

ON August 26 2006, thousands of people from adjacent villages headed towards Phulbari town in Dinajpur district to take part in a grand assembly. Their demand: Open-pit mining should not be allowed in the area.
As the protestors marched towards the Asia Energy office to demonstrate their disapproval regarding open-pit mining, police and BDR opened fire on a section of the rally. According to The Daily Star report, At least seven people were killed and about 300 injured.
This incident heightened public sentiment against Asia Energy, the British company in contract with the Bangladesh Government to develop the local coal mines. Protestors demanded expulsion of Asia Energy from Phulbari.
On August 30 2006, the then ruling party accepted all six demands of the protestors by signing a memorandum of understanding with the leaders of the movement. The key demands oblige us to expel Asia Energy from the country and not initiate open-pit mining in Phulbari or any other part of the country.
What instigated this grassroots movement against open-pit mining? What made the protestors so unyielding that bullets could not stop them? Produced by Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD) and jointly directed by Ronald Halder and Philip Gain, the documentary film Phulbari takes a close look at the movement against open-pit mining in Phulbari and explains crucial social, ecological and economic issues involved with coal and its extraction strategies.
The documentary was screened at Drik Gallery, Dhanmondi on January 5.
According to the documentary, the protestors complain that Asia Energy consultants did not inform the local people clearly regarding the open-pit mining that would require a mass eviction of people from their homes in the area. Over a hundred villages, thousands of houses, markets, schools, colleges, mosques, temples, graves, woods and roads -- will all be lost. In addition, the cultivable lands will be lost in the huge mine void.
In order to reach the layer of coal, extensive digging activities will take place. Dynamites will be exploded to break the rocks. The burning of coal to produce electricity will pollute the air. Polluting agents such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, volatile organic compounds, mercury, lead, cadmium, chromium and arsenic will contaminate the soil and water -- a recipe for a disastrous impact on the ecosystem.
The documentary includes comments from noted economists and environmentalists of the country who evaluate the commercial prospects and the potential impact of open-pit mining.
The film does well in addressing the collective sentiment of the local people and the ill-effects of open-pit mining but it seems one-tracked. There is hardly any representation from the Asia Energy side. More information on open-pit mining would have helped to assess the pros and cons of the procedure.
Research for the documentary has been done by Philip Gain, Partha Shankar Saha and Aneeka Malik. Ronald Halder's cinematography is reasonable but the one-dimensional, chirpy narration by Mita Mahmud, even when going over grave issues, could have been done without.
The 40-minute documentary was followed by a roundtable discussion. In addition to the screening of Phulbari, a photography and painting exhibition was also held at Drik, which ended yesterday.