Leaders of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports yesterday declared that they would not join the BNP’s movement on the Rampal project issue. In a press conference organized at the Mukti Bhaban, Prof. Anu Muhammad, the member secretary of the committee, said, “We’ll go solo with the help of mass people and we’re ever ready to have a conversation with the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina if she reconsiders her decision on implementing the Rampal PP”.
The National Committee arranged this press conference in the wake of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s press conferences on the Rampal issue.
The committee members welcomed the BNP’s protest against the Rampal Power Plant. However, the committee members declined the possibility of forming any sort of coalition with the BNP in protesting the Rampal Plant. Prof. Anu Muhammad showed the cause as the BNP, during its reign, has done so many projects against the interests of the country and fired at Phulbari movement. He replied the PM’s taunt saying that, “We didn’t need any money from any other outside sources to continue our protest against Phulbari, and still we’re managing our expenditures in our own old way”.
Eng. Sheikh Muhammad Shahidullah, they convener of the committee said, “no matter what happens, we’ll move forward with the movement against the Rampal project”. The PM claimed that the temperature of the water body of Pashur River wouldn’t rise, where the implementing company remarked that the temperature would rise by 2 centigrades. Yet, a report from JICA claimed that the temperature of the water bodies of Pashur River would rise by 4 centigrades.
The PM also claimed that Barapukuria coal-fired power plant was not making any harm to the vicinities environment. However, the committee members pointed to a recent research conducted on 2014 by the RUET (Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology) researchers, which denotes that the subterranean water bodies are getting polluted by the Barapukuria’s coal-fired power plant. Tilai, the adjacent River is also getting polluted, causing skin diseases to humans and marine life.
Other members of the national committee namely Ruhin Hossain Prince, Bajlur Rashid Firoj, Eng. B D Rahmatullah, Prof. Tanjim Uddin Khan, Moshrefa Mishu were also present at the press conference.