relocation of the plant-Bagerhat

Coal-based thermal power plant to be set up in Bangladesh’s Bagerhat is 4 km away from ecologically critical portion of the Sundarbans, environmentalists are demanding relocation of the plant.

•  Last month, Bangladesh inked a deal with India to set up a coal-based thermal power plant in Bangladesh’s Bagerhat district. Spread over 800 hectares, the 1,320 MW plant will be set up in Rampal upazila—4 km from the declared ecologically critical portion of the Sundarbans. This has agitated environmentalists who are demanding relocation of the plant.
• The project has worried the Ramsar Convention secretariat, too. The Sundarbans are registered with the Convention, an international treaty for conservation of wetlands. Last June when the project was in its proposal stage, the Convention secretariat wrote a letter to the Bangladesh Ministry of Environment and Forests. It said the joint venture between the Power Development Board of Bangladesh and India’s National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) could be a possible threat to the Sundarbans.