No power plant near Sunderbans

Nur Jahan: I was waiting with much hope to watch the press conference of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina about the Rampal power plant near Sunderbans ,I was sure that ” Jono Netri”Sheikh Hasina will not let the people down and will inform them that she will honour their wish and shift the plant elsewhere.
But what a shock,she did not speak on that track ,instead she went on explaining how the project will be beneficial,she even threatened to shut down all the power plants if they go on protesting about the Rampal plant.She did not shift an inch from her stance,what an unfortunate nation we are!
As a citizen of this country anyone can protest about a project which will be destructive,it does not imply that he/she is engaged in a conspiracy,the ruling party must come out of this conspiracy theory.
The WashingtonPost wrote a new power plant could devastate the world’s largest mangrove forest.The planet’s largest mangrove forest could be facing serious trouble in the form of two new coal-fired power plants ,environmentalists say- and they are urging the United Nations to draw greater attention to the issue.Damage to the ecosystem could have consequences for the global climate.Research suggests that mangrove forest serve as highly effective carbon sinks.According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration mangrove forests and coastal wetlands may be able to store up to five times more carbon than the same size tropical forests.Damaging these ecosystems can both harm their ability to continue storing carbon,as well as release carbon that’s already sequestered.
Adding to this would be the carbon emissions produced by the coal plants themselves .According to the environmental impact assessment ,the plant would require almost 13,000 tons or coal per day and would release an estimated 7.9 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year.
Once Prime Minister sheikh Hasina said that ,”Every one could be bought ,except her”.So,naturally it is coming to our minds that those who are surrounding her may be are not informing her all the facts and they are using it to their advantage.
We learned that Environmental activists have even raised questions about the legitimacy of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for this project rejecting its findings for being biased ,distorted and inaccurate.It is telling that the EIA for this project was approved by the Department of Environment(DoE) on August 5,2013, but land acquisition began two years earlier on August 23,2011,and the joint venture between NTPC and BPDB was signed on January 29,2012.
That work on the project began long before the EIA was approved only goes to show that it was done as an eye wash to justify the project.
The above information I got from the article SUNDRBANS UNDER THREAT written by Sushmita S Preetha published in the Daily Star onJuly25,2015.
Therefore ,considering the serious consequences of the Rampal power plant we trust that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will refrain from building it.