Finland Times

Press Release Photo.

A group of Bangladeshi expatriates on Saturday staged a demonestration in Turku as part of the global action programme protesting the move of Bangladesh government to set up a power plant near Sundarbans, the largest  Mangrove Forest area in the world.

   

The protest rally organized by the Bangladeshi students of Abo Akademi University in Turku was held at the city center in the afternoon at about 12.30pm where about 30 people took part.

 

The demonstrators urged the Bangladesh government to stop the suicidal coal project near the Sundarbans, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, said a press release.

 

The demonstrators bearing red cards and festoons pointed out the importace of saving forests and the possible negetive impaccts of the project.

 

They expressed soliderity with the ongoing movement in Bangladesh against the project.

 

The 1320 MW Rampal coal-fired power plant is proposed to be built just miles away from the Sundarbans, home to thousands of indigenous communities as well as endangered species, including the Bengal tiger and Irawaddy dolphin.

 

It would also make some 50 million coastal people more vulnerable to natural disasters, as the Sundarbans is a natural safeguard against frequent cyclones, storms and other natural disasters.

 

 In October 2016 the United Nations World Heritage Committee issued a report urging the Bangladeshi government to cancel the Rampal coal plant due to the threats it poses to the Sundarbans.

 

The India-Bangladesh Friendship Power Company recently secured financing for the Rampal coal project from India’s Export Import Bank, and construction is expected to start soon. Pressure is also mounting for banks, including JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America, to divest from the project.