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Swell of discontent over Phulbari mining project


Monday December 26 2005 11:49:49 AM BDT


OFIUL HASNAT RUHIN, back from Phulbari, Dinajpur


The Phulbari coalmine project looks set to run into stiff resistance from the local people who fear displacement if and when the government allows the Asia Energy Corporation (Bangladesh) Limited, a United Kingdom-Bangladesh joint venture, to engage in open-cut mining for 30 years.(The New Age BD )

Experts have already warned of a large-scale environmental disaster in the case of mining in the area that covers more than 6,500 acres of land, sprawled over four upazilas. The area will be rendered fallow for at least 20 years once the company is done with the mining, they say.

Asia Energy is also aware of the environmental fallout, but says it will try to minimise the damage through a ‘massive’ tree-plantation programme.

It will also compensate the people who will be affected, said a spokesperson of the

company.

Local people fear that more than 70,000 people of Phulbari, Nababganj, Birampur and Parbatipur upazilas, including 8,000 of the indigenous community, will be displaced. Asia Energy predicts the number to be around 40,000.

Agitation has already begun in the area with the Phulbari Raksha (Protection) Committee leading the charge. Members of the committee believe the project will be ‘suicidal’ for Bangladesh.

The committee has chalked out different agitation programmes such as hartal (general strike), procession and rally. It is mobilising people irrespective of their faiths and ethnicity to wage a ‘greater movement’ against the project.

Hundreds of black flags have been hoisted and posters pasted all over the area with slogans against the project and the company.

‘We will rather die than leave our homes,’ said Shahjahan Ali Sarkar, chairman of the local municipality and also convenor of the protection committee.

Khurshid Alam, joint convenor of the committee and also president of the upazila unit of the ruling BNP, said the project would not be beneficial for the country as the company said it would.

‘We produce a number of crops on the land round the year,’ said Khurshid, who is the principal of the local women’s college. ‘Coal mining in the area will mean the suspension of farming of more than 50 years.’

Shahjahan, a local leader of the Awami League, questioned why a foreign company had been allowed to launch a motivation campaign among local people before it even secured the contract for the mining project.

He alleged that Asia Energy officials were pursuing villagers to sign ‘some documents’ during a survey that the company had already begun.

‘They [the officials] said we would be ousted without any compensation if we did not sign the “assessment papers”,’ Suniram Pathan, a Santal who lives in the village Dimlaipara of Nababganj, told New Age.

The upazila nirbahi (executive) officer of Phulbari, Ataur Rahman, dismissed the claim that Asia Energy had started a campaign in the area. ‘The company has been allowed to conduct a survey and will leave the area by January if it does not win the contract [for coalmining].’

Officials of Asia Energy also denied the allegation that the company had launched a motivation campaign in the name of a survey.

‘We are not conducting any campaign. We are consulting with the local community and explaining what our plans are,’ said Brian Mooney, head of corporate affairs of the company.

He insisted that Asia Energy was acting under a lawful contract with the government.

Mooney also dismissed the allegation that the company was forcing local people to sign documents. ‘It is just a household-to-household survey. Besides, whatever documents people sign now will have no bearing on the compensation package.’

The compensation package will be fair, based completely on the market price, he added.

The energy and mineral resources ministry is yet to decide whether the project should be implemented or not, said the energy and mineral resources adviser, Mahmudur Rahman.

‘It is a big project. We have to consider the socio-economic impact of the project before making any recommendation to the cabinet for approval and execution,’ he said. ‘The government is waiting for the report of a technical team, now in operation.’

Mahmud did not rule out the possibility that Asia Energy might be trying to motivate the local people. ‘It is not unlikely. But if they are, they should stop right away.’


The New Age BD