Long march against Indo-Bangladesh power plant near Sundarbans started

A 250 km-long protest march against plans to build Rampal Power Station, Indo-Bangladesh coal-fired power plant near the Sundarbans, was kick-started on 10 March 2016.

The protest march calls for scrapping the project that supposedly will harm the ecosystem of the world's largest mangrove forest.

Environmentalists, cultural and political activists, and eminent individuals began the four-day march from Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka to persuade the Bangladeshi Government to drop its backing for construction of the plants near the Sundarbans, an area of rice paddies, shrimp farms and vast mangrove forests.

The proposed Rampal Power Station

• The Rampal Power Station is a proposed 1320 megawatt coal-fired power station at Rampal Upazila of Bagerhat District in Khulna, Bangladesh.

• It is a joint partnership between India's state owned National Thermal Power Corporation and Bangladesh Power Development Board.

• The joint venture company is known as Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company (BIFPC).

• The proposed project, on an area of over 1834 acres of land, is situated 14 kilometres north of the world's largest mangrove forest Sundarbans which is a UNESCO world heritage site.

• When constructed, it will be Bangladesh’s largest power plant.

About Sundarbans

• The Sundarbans is a natural region comprising southern Bangladesh and a small part in Eastern India.

• It is the largest single block of tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world.

• It covers approximately 10000 square kilometres most of which is in Bangladesh with the remainder in India.

• It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

• Sundarbans South, East and West are three protected forests in Bangladesh. This region is densely covered by mangrove forests, and is the largest reserves for the Bengal tiger.

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