Alliance partners of the ruling Awami League (AL) have joined experts, environmentalists, members of civil society and leaders of different political parties in voicing their opinions against the government’s decision to build a coal-based power plant at Rampal in Bagerhat district. Leaders of AL's partners said the government should drop the 1,320-MW project to save the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Left-wing political parties, a national campaign committee, and other civic organisations have already threatened an intensive agitation against the government if it does not shelve the construction of the coal-based power plant.
However, the AL-led government maintains a rigid stand. The Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company signed a USD 1.49 billion contract with an Indian company last month. Under the contract, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited is expected to complete the plant's construction at Rampal by 2019.
Talking to The Independent on Tuesday, Bangladesh Workers’ Party president and civil aviation minister Rashed Khan Menon said the government should immediately scrap the contract in the national interest. “I am always against the coal-based project near the Sundarbans. I had spoken against the project in Parliament and I am saying again that it is not a wise decision of the government,” he added. Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) factional chief Sharif Nurul Ambia and alliance leader said the government should not whimsically construct the coal-based power plant near the Sundarbans. It should think again and take the opinions of experts and environmentalists and then decide.
Another alliance leader, Ganotantri Party general secretary Nurur Rahman Selim, said the government should rethink the issue. “The government should not do anything that goes against our national interest and destroys our ecological balance,” he said.
The senior alliance leader said the government should seek more opinions from the country’s leading experts and environmentalists before taking the final decision. “We should not undertake development activities that harm our environment,” said SK Sikder, general secretary of Gana Azadi League, an ally of the ruling AL. Earlier, the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports had protested against the government decision from the very beginning. It announced a protest programme—'Cholo, Cholo, Dhaka Cholo’ (‘March to Dhaka’)—on November 24 if the government refused to scrap the controversial project.
The AL's arch rival BNP is also planning to stage a demonstration in protest against the government decision to build the project near the Sundarbans. The party’s chairperson, Khaleda Zia, in a press conference on Wednesday, urged the government to withdraw from its anti-state stance.  
Meanwhile, environmentalists have been up in arms against the power plant because of its proximity to the Sundarbans. The project poses significant social and environmental risks, according to Bank Track, a Netherlands-based coalition of organisations “targeting the operations and investments of private sector banks and their effect on people and the planet”. In an analysis, Bank Track said serious deficiencies in project design, planning and implementation render it non-compliant with the minimum social and environmental standards and the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC’s) performance standards. Green activists are also concerned that the plant would cause environmental degradation due to increased ship traffic, dredging, and air and water pollution. Coal-fired thermal power plants belch toxic gases that could impact wildlife and human health and forest quality in the neighbourhood, leading the country’s many environmentalists to press for the scrapping of the plant.  The Rampal plant is located about 14km off the Sundarbans. It is estimated it would burn 4.72 million tonnes of imported coal a year.