7 October 2013
A thermal power plant jointly constructed by Bangladesh and India has become political fuel for the opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP).
Environmentalists and locals fear the coal-fired plant at Rampal could jeopardise the world’s largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans, but the government says it will push on with trying to meet rising power demand.
"We’d like to clearly tell them (the government) that no power plant to destroy the Sundarbans will be allowed," BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia told an opposition rally last week, reports Bdnews24.com.
The Sundarban is the largest tidal mangrove forest in the world (Credit: V Malik/Wikimedia)
Bangladesh and India would equally share the 1,320MW plant however the BNP believes the government is to blame for setting up expensive but low-capacity quick rental power plants.
Protesters against the plant have already served the government with an ultimatum to reject the project by 11 October or face further protests.
