Govt misleads people with untrue info

Rights and green activist Sultana Kamal yesterday said the government was desperate to go ahead with Rampal power plant despite receiving various findings of international organisations that show adverse impacts of the project.

The convener of “National Committee to Protect the Sundarbans” claimed the government could not reply to different local and international studies that say the plant would harm the biodiversity of the Sundarbans beyond imagination.

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“The government is not telling anything real and objective regarding the power plant. In some cases, they are confusing people by providing untrue information,” she said at a programme at the city's Dhaka Reporters Unity.

The National Committee to Protect the Sundarbans organised the programme titled “Exim Bank's Finance in Rampal Power Project & Reality of the Sundarbans' Peril by Huge Pollution: Two International Evaluation Reports.”

Noted engineer and air quality consultant Dr Ranajit (Ron) Sahu placed a paper titled “Comment on the Government of Bangladesh's response to Unesco regarding air emissions from the Bangladesh-India friendship power plant”.

Coming down heavily on the government for its go-ahead policy with the plant, Sultana Kamal asked why and for whose interest the government was so stubborn not to ditch the harmful project.

“Although we have been providing scientific and international experts' findings on the adverse impacts of the power plant, the government keeps saying that we do not know anything,” she said.

Quoting Indian coal expert Soummyo Dutta, Sultana added the Indian expert has said the number of people suffering from kidney failure, neurology and mercury have increased significantly at different parts of Maddhya Pradesh where coal-based power plants were set up.

Citing the agreement between the Exim Bank of India and Bangladesh government during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to the country, Prof MM Akash said there were some specific provisions in the agreement, which would definitely go against the interest of Bangladesh.

In the agreement it is said that the project will use the modem ultra-supercritical technology and is adopting stringent environmental norms with highly efficient machinery which is nothing but a blatant lie, Prof Akash alleged.

Dr Sahu who joined the programme through videoconference said the siting of the Rampal plant did not adequately consider renewable alternatives.

“The project is not designed with state-of-the-art technologies to protect environment,” he observed.

“Imported coal from Australia, Indonesia and South Africa will not prevent air pollution, nor does it prevent dirtier coals from being used in future,” he said, adding, “Ultra supercritical technology is not planned at Rampal and wouldn't protect the Sundarbans even if it were.”

Transparency International Bangladesh Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman said they had doubt if the information provided by the government on the power plant was its own information.

“I think the government is saying what is provided by the Indian side,” he alleged.