Bangladesh leftists warn government over power plant near Sundarbans

Left parties in Bangladesh have warned the government not to persist with the coal-fired power plant at Rampal near the Sundarbans.

Top leaders of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) and the Socialist Party of Bangladesh (BaSaD) issued the warnings on Saturday during a sit-in protest in Dhaka by the Oil Gas Protection Committee.

"This power plant in Rampal (in the southern district of Bagerhat) will have to stop. The movement we had started will not be silenced. I ask the government to weigh the consequences of the project ," CPB President Mujahidul Islam Selim told the demonstration.

He said that the movement will go on. "We will continue our movement even if it means changing our political priorities. Please keep that in your mind, prime minister."

Urging all to come forward to save the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, the leftist leader said : "I do not know what political course the country will take in the future. It's the people who will decide, but some day leftists will assume power in this country.

"But it will be tough for us to build a better country, if the Sundarbans is destroyed before we come in power."

BaSaD faction General Secretary Khalequzzaman reminded the Awami League of its glorious past, when it led the movement for Bangladesh's independence.

"You talk about the Liberation War and on the other hand deceive the people; stop this.

"We will call for a larger movement. Do keep in mind that it might change the course of politics in Bangladesh, " he said.

Bangladesh has signed a deal with India to set up the 1,300-megawatt thermal power plant in Bagerhat’s Rampal.

The two countries will have equal partnership in the venture styled Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Ltd.

Environmentalists and locals say the coal-fired power plant will threaten the ecological balance of the Sundarbans.

The government, however, insists that proper measures will be taken to protect the environment from pollution.