A high-profile UNESCO delegation has paid their visit to Rampal’s Friendship Thermal Power Plant. Three of the delegates visited the project site of the power plant in Wednesday. While looking over the site, the UNESCO delegation had a meeting with the officials of Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Ltd. (BIFPCL). The UNESCO officials talked with the locals also regarding the power plant issue.
World Heritage Centre of UNESCO has sent this team of high-profile delegation with a name of ‘Re-active Monitoring Mission’. This team includes Fanny Adolphinem M Douver, the Project Officer of France, Latin America and Caribbean unit, Naomi Clare, UK based intl. organization and specialist on conservation of environment and Mizuki Murai, UNESCO’s inspection officer of World Heritage centre. Govt. Officials from Fuel, Forest and Environment ministry are also visiting the plant along with the foreign delegation.
The UNESCO delegates had a discussion with the villagers of Rampal. The villagers said that they want the Sundarbans to remain as unharmed or untouched while they also expressed their urge for installing a power plant at the same time.
In the meeting the UNESCO officials demanded explanation on transportation procedure of coal, the procurement procedure on sink of any voyage or any sort of accident while transporting, type of the chimney, distance from the power plant to Sundarbans and many other related topic.
The Managing Director of the company Ujjal Kanti Bhatyacharjya said, we welcomed the UNESCO delegation heartily. He also said, we have answered all the questions accordingly and helped them visiting the whole project site. We hope the delegation would be reassured that the Rampal power plant will not harm the Sundarbans, he added.
The report of this specialist delegates will decide if the Sundarbans will remain as a World Heritage Site of UNESCO.