Remove concern over Rampal power project

THE UK based global activist group Greenpeace presented a study report in Dhaka early this week to say that the coal fired Rampal power plant would cause at least 6,000 premature deaths and low birth weights of 24,000 babies during 40-year of its life time. Another AFP report said the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund — the world’s largest fund with pensioners’ money has delisted India’s Bharaat Heavy Electrical Company from its investment portfolios for being a partner to Rampal Power Plant. Earlier many global wealth funds and multilateral agencies declined to finance the power plant for its high risks to people’s life and environment that also include existential threat to the Sundarbans located only 14 km from the project site. But the mystery remains as to why our government is untouched by local and internal opposition to the project.

Greenpeace disclosure and Norwegian Wealth Fund action came at a time when the government continues to claim that the joint venture plant with India will give electricity to people at low cost. But as per expert opinion the unsolicited project will sell electricity at very high cost and moreover what is highly intriguing — if the project will kill so many people and cause so many faulty birth because of toxication of air, water and environment, how the government can claim it to be a good project to people is not clear. The disclosure that exposure to toxic pollutants will increase the risk of diseases such as stroke, lung cancer, heart and respiratory diseases in adults, as well as respiratory symptoms in children needs serious consideration. This would happen even if Bangladesh currently had zero air pollution,” the report said.

Greenpeace report said the 1320 MW power project built by Bharat Heavy Electrical in collaboration with Bangladesh government would burn 5 million tonnes of coal a year and the emissions would raise the levels of toxic particles over the entire south-western region and 100km to the northeast due to prevailing wind patterns. It would cover the entire Sundarbans’ ecosystem, Satkhira, Khulna, Noakhali, Comilla, Narsingdi and Dhaka districts as well as Ashoknagar, Kalyangar, Basirhat and Kolkata of West Bengal.

Needless to say the plant will equally damage the people and the environment in both countries but it is yet unclear why the Indian government is not paying heed to the growing opposition to the project by local environmentalists as well as from United Nations environment panel, UNESCO and WHO. It appears that Bangladesh government is implementing the wish of the Indian government for reasons not clear when many believe the project site can at least be relocated at certain distance from the Sundarbans to protect it taking the brunt of the threat.

We must say that the Norway’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, currently estimated worth $934 billion has rightly taken the action against Bharat Heavy Electrical to register its support to global environmentalists’ struggle to stop or relocate the project. We don’t know whether it will work, but the action nonetheless must be taken as a big protest against people working to endanger our environment.