India’s project to install 70,000 improved cook stoves in Bangladesh begins

Indian High Commissioner Pankaj Saran has inaugurated the installation of 70,000 improved cook stoves in selected areas in Bangladesh.

The Indian High Commission said this was part of the MoU signed between India and Bangladesh during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June this year.

Environment and Forests Secretary Kamal Uddin Ahmed was also present at the ceremony in Dhaka.

Improved cook stoves are designed to reduce the fuel consumption per meal and curb smoke emissions from open fires inside dwellings.

They also prevent health-damaging pollution.

The India Endowment for Climate Change (IECC) is funding this project worth Indian Rs 50 million.

The Indian government set up IECC in 2012 to partner SAARC member states to meet their capacity-building and adaptation needs in response to the challenge of climate change in South Asia.

The 70,000 cook stoves are proposed to be installed in eight Upazilas of Bangladesh – Rangunia, Sandwip, Maheshkhali, Ukhia, Tungiparha, Kotaliparha, Bhandaria and Char Fassen over a period of 18 months.

The Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research developed those stoves, which are said to reduce fuel consumption by 50 percent.

The project will be implemented under the guidance of Bangladesh’s Ministry of Environment and Forest through its technical wing, the Department of Environment (DoE).