Rampal coal power plant
Death knell for Sunderbans
DHAKA: Ecology is related with the ‘Natural diversity’ and their interaction which is a key to our safety. It could be a death spell if we ignore the destruction of our forests in the name of so called developments! Recently, the proposed ‘Rampal coal-based Power Plant’ raised the alert that it would ruin the biodiversity of the worlds largest mangrove forest Sunderbans, situated in the South of Bangladesh.
Amid three writ petitions in the High Court and protests by Green Activists, on April 20, Bangladesh and India have signed to launch the 1320-megawatt coal-based Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company (Pvt) Limited (BIFPCL) at Rampal in Khulna district, along with three agreements namely, Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), Implementation Agreement (IA) and Supplementary Joint Venture Agreement (SJVA).
As per the green experts’ assertion, the proposed 1320-megawatt coal-fired power plant at Rampal in Bagerhat would destroy the Sundarbans which is only 14 kilometres away from the project site. The project didn’t have any consideration of the important aspects of the environmental degradation of the Sundarbans, its ecology, flora and fauna
It has been estimated that the coal-fired power plant would severely hamper 20-kilometre area adjacent to Sunderbans and bio-diversity of the largest’s mangrove forest. The emission of wastage from the plant will affect propagation and life cycle of wild life. It will also trigger huge deforestation which could elicit deforestation in the area.
The Coal-based Power Plant at Rampal is against ‘The Ramsar Convention’. The Ramsar Convention is the only global environmental treaty that deals with reservation of wetlands. Bangladesh have signed the convention in 1972. Sunderbans and Tanguar Haor are the marked as Ramsar area. The authority of the global body expressed worry for the proposed plant.
A study by Dr. Abdullah Harun of Khulna University shows that most of the impacts of coal-fired power plant are negative and irreversible and cannot be mitigated in any way. According to that study climate, topography, land use pattern, air quality, water quality, wetlands, floral and faunal diversity, fishing and tourism will be affected permanently. The coal-run power plant with its environmental management plan will increase river erosion, noise pollution and health hazards, decrease in ground water table, loss of fish culture, social forestry and will cause major destruction of agriculture.
Environmentalists fear that if corrective measures are not taken right now, the green belts around the mangrove forest will face a serious threat to their existence as salinity and river erosion have already started taking their tolls on the belts that surround the Sundarbans.
BDST: 2225 HRS, JUL 12, 2013
Edited By: Morshed Jahan Mithun/Shameem Reza, Newsroom Editors
Death knell for Sunderbans Rampal coal power plant
who on earth these kind of stupid becomes advisor to a country's PM
?and he doesn't even know why India made a court rule ,that there should not be any industrialization within 30 mile radius of shundarban.
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