PM slams anti-Rampal protesters

Blasting the critics of Rampal power plant project, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the plant would cause no environmental damage.

“The construction site of the plant is around 14 kilometres away from the outer boundary of the Sundarbans and about 70 kilometres off the world heritage site. It is being set up in Rampal, not in the Sundarbans. So there is no possibility of causing any damage to the Sundarbans,” she said.

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The PM was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the 57th National Convention of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB) at its Chittagong centre.

She came down hard on the critics saying that they “never visited the power plant site” to get an idea about the impact on the Sundarbans.

“They are conducting a campaign sitting in the capital... they never visited Rampal,” she said.

The government took all kinds of measures to protect the environment of the Sundarbans and its surrounding areas as well as to protect the habitat and biodiversity of that region, Hasina told the programme.

Referring to the construction of Barapukuria coal-fired power plant in Dinajpur, she said there was no negative impact on the densely populated and green area in Barapukuria although two sub-critical plants were set up there.

The land of the area “became more fertile and more rice was being produced there”, she claimed.

The premier said coal would be transported to the Rampal power plant site from deep sea in covered barges and low-sound engines would be used in those vessels.

A barge with 1,000 tonnes of coal sank near the Sundarbans recently, but the environmentalists did not go there for having an idea about its impact, she added.

“Did the environmentalists conduct any examination about the impact of the capsizing of the barge?... They should have visited the site to assess its impact,” she said.

The PM urged engineers to speedily complete all development projects undertaken by her government, maintaining quality and standard of works. She sought their cooperation to turn Bangladesh into a middle income country by 2021.

Putting emphasis on undertaking projects with proper planning considering the country's limited land, she called upon the engineers to work for advancing the country ahead keeping pace with the competitive world.

Praising the engineers and engineering education in Bangladesh, Hasina said many of them showed rare talents in their workplaces in many developed countries.

She said the engineers can accelerate programmes to build digital Bangladesh by associating their talent, thinking and hard work with science and technology.

IEB President Kabir Ahmed Bhuiyan and General Secretary Mohammad Abdus Sabur spoke on the occasion.

The theme of the IEB convention this year is “Digital Technology for Development”.

Earlier, Hasina awarded IEB Gold Medals to Dhaka Wasa Chairman Habibur Rahman and Chief Coordinator of the Padma bridge construction project Maj Gen Abu Sayed Mohammad Masud for their outstanding contribution in academic and professional fields.

She unveiled plaques of the IEB's new centres in Mymensingh, Bogra, Rangpur and Ashuganj of Brahmanbaria as well as allotted pieces of land at Purbachal in Dhaka, Khulna and Faridpur for setting up new centres.