Fear for losing houses, jobs ignites Banshkhali protests

Inhabitants of Banshkhali’s Gondamarha Union in Chittagong say they have launched a movement against the building of a power plant, fearing it may lead to their eviction and loss of livelihood.

Locals began opposing the project after S Alam Group started building the coal-fired thermal power plant on 600 acres of land at the union’s Paschim Borhoghona.
 
Four people were killed on Monday in clashes between the protesters and supporters of the project.
 
But the villagers kept up their agitation even on Tuesday despite the killings and S Alam Group beginning work at the construction site.
 
Several villagers alleged they were being forced to sell their land.
 
Land protection committee convenor and former chairman of Gondamarha Union Council Liaqat Ali alleges that a plan is afoot to evict about 10,000 people.
 
But S Alam and NSN Consortium claim local BNP leader Liaqat is inciting the locals because he is not getting the money he is demanding.
 
The Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of ruling Awami League, formed a human chain in the Upazila headquarters under the banner ‘Banshkhali inhabitants for development’ on Tuesday evening, calling for Liaqat’s hanging.
 
S Alam Group is setting up the 1300-MW plant at an estimated cost of Tk 260 billion near the sea at Banshkhali with the help of a Chinese company.
 
Group Chairman Saiful Alam Masud denied villagers are being forced to sell their land and dismissed fears of environmental pollution associated with the plant.

‘End of sunrise’
 
Land is being filled up along the coast for the ‘SS Power Plant’ in Paschim Borhogona.
 
Clashes erupted on Monday about three kilometres away from the project site at a place called Mujiber Tila.
 
The local inhabitants allege NSN Consortium Chairman Nasir Uddin and Vice Chairman Bahadur Alam Hiran are threatening them to leave the area.
 
Land protection committee member Abu Ahmed told bdnews24.com: “Agents of S Alam Group and their hired thugs went about threatening the people living here.”
 
“They said no houses would be allowed within 10 km of the power plant. Where will farmers go leaving their homestead and salt pans?”
 

A local inhabitant said on condition anonymity that the business group was buying up all land. “Harassed and intimidated people are selling their plots at half the price.”

Salt is produced during much of the year in Gondamarha, a place close to the sea.

The relatives of two of the four people killed on Monday said they own no land and survive by making salt on land others own.

“We have no land in the project area. We hear the environment will become polluted. How will we live in that case? So, we have joined the protest,” said ‘Badi’, a relative of one of the slain men.

Many, like Badi, fear they will lose their livelihood. Various shades of superstition are also taking hold as well.

One Mohammad Ali said, “The land protection committee says the sun will not rise if the power plant is built. It will be dark all the year round.

“If there is no sun, there will no salt. We are poor people. Where will we go? So, we protested.”

Leader of the protesters Liaqat Ali said people were opposing the project out of fear of losing their land and environmental pollution.

S Alam’s goons in police uniform fired indiscriminately, he added.

The area’s former union council member Shamima Zannat, who had gone to console the bereaved families, said: “I have never seen such firing on a protest rally. The plant will have to be built on hundreds of corpses.”
 
Earlier, over a thousand people, mostly women, had gathered at a local madrasa playground to voice their protest against the project.
 
The villagers also cut a road leading to the project site.
 
‘Hired goons fired’
 
Trouble started on Sunday after the arrest of seven protesters.
 

The agitators gathered in force on Monday and so did those supporting the project.

The confrontation led to a clash, in which police were allegedly attacked, resulting in the police firing.

The clash took place in the presence of NSN Consortium Chairman Nasir Uddin, claimed Badi, relative of one of the victims of police firing.

‘Liaqat’s instigation’
 
Police were nowhere to be seen on Tuesday. Four excavators at the power plant project site lay idle.
 
The quarters of the construction workers were deserted and locked. No one of S Alam Group was present there.
 
But 10 policemen were seen at the project control office later in the day.
 
NSN Consortium Co-Chairman Bahadur Alam Hiran, who was there in the office, told bdnews24.com that land was being acquired over the past two years in accordance with guidelines.
 
He said those who sold their land had no grouse.
 
Hiran accused Liaqat of taking Tk 10.3 million last year for helping in the land acquisition but did not fulfil the deal.
 
“He demanded another Tk 10 million last month when the land-filling began. He started inciting the villagers when this demand was rejected,” Hiran claimed.
 

When asked about the firing, Hiran denied anyone from the company was involved in the clash.

S Alam Group Chairman Masud told bdnews24.com that the company had bought the entire 600 acres. 

“People were happy to sell their land. No had ever said their land had been forcibly taken over.”

Liaqat worried
 
The BNP’s Chittagong district unit (south) committee member Liaqat Ali now fears that he might incur the wrath of the government for leading the protest.
 
“Those who want to build the plant are big fish. Ruling party members have taken favours from them. Will they leave me alone?” Liaqat wondered, speaking to bdnews24.com.
 
“I might become a victim of state terror any day.”