Rampal power plant is being built to please India, says Rizvi

BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has claimed the government is building Rampal power plant near the Sundarbans, ignoring the threat it will pose to the world’s largest mangrove forest, to please India.

In a discussion in Dhaka on Saturday, he claimed India had planned a power plant near its part of the Sundarbans but backed out of it amid protests by citizens.
 
But the Bangladesh government is building the plant using ‘muscle power’, he said.
 
Environmentalists claim that any power plant near the Sundarbans will pose threat to its biodiversity.
 
Rizvi said the government was proceeding with the Rampal project as “failure to build the plant will affect its deep love affairs with India”.
 
Disapproving any heavy industry or power plant near the Sundarbans, he said, “It’ll threaten the biodiversity of the world famous forest, pollute water there and affect the entire region.”
 
An environmental group, Save the Sundarbans Foundation, organised the discussion.