BNP accuses PM’s adviser of lying about UNESCO’s Rampal stance

The BNP has alleged that the Prime Minister’s Energy Adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury lied about the UNESCO’s position on the Rampal power plant near the Sundarbans.

Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir levelled the allegation against the adviser at a programme in Dhaka on Tuesday.

“UNESCO said in its report that there couldn't be a power plant in Rampal. Even after having the organisation’s report as evidence, the Awami League leaders, especially the adviser, are lying,” Mirza Fakhrul said.

“I heard how he lied at (Monday’s) media conference. Their true colours need to be exposed,” he added.

UNESCO has been expressing concern over the location of the proposed plant near the Sundarbans, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since the project was initiated in 2010.

But after a meeting of the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee on June 30, the government claimed the UN organization had ‘moved away’ from its objection to the plant.

The government claim, however, did not fully match the information on the meeting provided by UNESCO on its website.

On Monday, Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, who advises the prime minister on power, energy and mineral resources, said UNESCO had said, “The project can go ahead, but mitigating measures have to be taken if needed."

Mirza Fakhrul, once a student of Chowdhury at Dhaka University’s economics department, said the PM’s adviser has ‘given up his conscience and free-thinking and is destroying the country’.     

“I want to apologise first. The honourable adviser is my teacher. He was a brilliant student and famed teacher at Dhaka University, an excellent bureaucrat and of course, a freedom fighter. Then what happened that you had to become part of activities aimed at destroying the country?” Mirza Fakhrul wondered.

The BNP leader termed the Sundarbans ‘the lifeline’ of Bangladesh safeguarding the country from environmental disaster. “There is no alternative to the Sundarbans to save our environment.”  

“And you are building a coal-fired power plant to destroy that forest. Why? For whom? Is it for the people or to safeguard someone else’s interests?” he asked, questioning the government’s motive in implementing the project undertaken jointly with India.

He was addressing a programme organised to demand the release of BNP Vice-Chairman Barkatullah Bulu.

File Photo: Prime Minister’s Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury speaks at an India-Bangladesh dialogue in Dhaka on Mar 5, 2016.

The government claim, however, did not fully match the information on the meeting provided by UNESCO on its website.

On Monday, Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, who advises the prime minister on power, energy and mineral resources, said the UNESCO had said, “The project can go ahead, but mitigating measures have to be taken if needed."

Mirza Fakhrul, once a student of Chowdhury at Dhaka University’s economics department, said the PM’s adviser has ‘given up his conscience and free-thinking and is destroying the country’.     

“I want to apologise first. The honourable adviser is my teacher. He was a brilliant student and famed teacher at Dhaka University, an excellent bureaucrat and of course, a freedom fighter. Then what happened that you had to join the activities of destroying the country?” Mirza Fakhrul wondered.

The BNP leader termed the Sundarbans ‘the lifeline’ of Bangladesh safeguarding the country from environmental disaster. “There is no alternative to the Sundarbans to save our environment.”  

“And you are building a coal-fired power plant to destroy that forest. But why? For whom? Is it for the people or to safeguard someone else’s interests?” he asked, questioning the government’s motive to implement the project undertaken jointly with India.

He was addressing a programme organised to demand the release of BNP Vice-Chairman Barkatullah Bulu.