Documentary film: The Blood Soaked Banner of Phulbari

  

Residents of Phulbari apprehensive of coal policy

NewAge, January 9, 2008. Dhaka, Bangladesh Residents of Phulbari said the interim government was ignoring the sentiments of the locals and betraying the spirit of their movement which led to an agreement in 2006 even as the government goes about preparing a coal policy.
   Although the draft coal policy being considered by the government prohibits exports, it does however allow open-pit mining as a pilot project, which according to insiders could well be the Phulbari coal mine.
   ‘I will fight again if people come here for open pit mining. It is a question of uprooting us from the birthplace of our forefathers,’ said Bablu Roy a rickshaw van driver, who had been critically injured and crippled for life. Bablu had been at the Centre for Rehabilitation of the Paralysed for almost a year.
   He said open pit mining would destroy the livelihoods of thousands in the area as it would destroy arable land. Bablu said, ‘Such destructive projects must be resisted and sent packing.’
   ‘While we expected that the government would abandon this project it is rather making ways for the British mining company to destroy our locality uprooting us,’ said Hafizul a grocery shop owner at Phulbari, a sub-district in Dinajpur.
   Manik Sarker, general secretary of the Phulbari Merchants Association, said it was an anti-people act of the government to advance a national coal policy unilaterally. ‘The government has not consulted with at least the inhabitants and probable victims of mine areas.’
   Manik who led protesters in Phulbari in August 2006, vowed to initiate movements against open pit mining if the government allowed it.
   ‘Although it has not dared to come back to Phulbari, Asia Energy remains active,’ said Manik. Several others, along with Manik were disturbed to find out that Asia Energy had begun media propaganda in favour of open pit mining.
   In end-August 2006 Phulbari saw a people’s movement protesting against a planned open-pit mine that would affect at least 17,000 hectares across four sub-districts displacing at least 3,50,000 people.
   Three persons died in police firing on the day while hundreds were injured among a crowd of some 50,000 people. Several days of continued unrest and demonstration by the locals followed, bringing the small town to a halt blocking a major highway that passes through it.
   The government eventually signed an agreement with the people on August 30 pledging to withdraw Asia Energy, the British mining company, and prohibit open pit mining in Bangladesh.

Draft coal policy finalised, handed over to Energy Division

NewAge, January 9, 2008. Dhaka, Bangladesh 

The advisory committee for finalising the draft coal policy on Tuesday submitted the policy to the Energy Division.
   

The committee convenor, former vice-chancellor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Abdul Matin Patwari handed over the finalised draft to the energy secretary, Mohammad Mohsin.
   It discourages coal export and recommends awarding coal exploration and development licence to a state-run entity that can go for joint venture with private-sector companies of home and abroad through competitive bidding, mandatory installation of power plants at mine entrances, setting up an open-pit coal mine as a test case, and forming a coal sector development committee to set the rate of royalty on the extracted coal time to time.
   Other members of the committee and Energy Division officials were present on the occasion. Abdul Matin told them that the committee finalised the draft by consensus of all the members, which was an impressive feat by its own right.
   The Energy Division will now examine the recommendations made by the committee in the draft coal policy, before sending it to the council of advisers for approval, the energy secretary told New Age.
   The members of the committee are the University Grants Commission chairman Professor Nazrul Islam, BUET Professor Nurul Islam, Dhaka University Professor Badrul Imam, Bangla-desh Army’s engineer-in-chief Major General Ismail Faruque Chowdhury, senior journalist Ataus Samad, Centre for Policy Dialogue executive director Mustafizur Rahman, Petrobangla director Maqbul-E-Elahi and former director Ehsanullah, and Infrastructure Investment Facilita-tion Centre executive director Nazrul Islam.