Panos Radio podcasts report on Phulbari resistance

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Photo: Shahidul Alam

Panos Radio South Asia (PRSA), an undertaking of Panos South Asia, on October 15, 2007, podcasted a report on community resistance against Phulbari Coal Project in Bangladesh.

In this latest edition Panoscope went to Phulbari, a small hamlet in north Bangladesh where, for the past several years, local residents have been resisting an open pit coal-mining project that threatens to displace thousands of people and destroy the environment. The controversy revolves around a clandestine deal between the erstwhile Bangladesh government and a British coal company called Asia Energy (now renamed Global Coal Management PLC). Asian Development Bank (ADB) is planning to provide US $ 100 million loan and US $ 200 million political risk insurance to Asia Energy. ADB is now conducting its due dilligence and scheduled to approve the funding the project in March 2008.

Download and listen to the report.

Download the complete transcript: phulbaripanoscope.doc

Visit Phulbari Resistance for more information on the community resistance against open pit coal mining in Phulbari.

Photo essay on Phulbari: Profits versus the poor

This entry was posted on October 29, 2007 at 3:57 am and is filed under Asian Development Bank, Development Induced Displacement, Indigenous Peoples, International Financial Institutions (IFIs), Mining/Phulbari, News and Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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