Phulbari Day Today

Staff Correspondent, NewAge, August 26, 2009

Photo: Zakir Kibria

Different socio-political organisations will observe Phulbari Day today in remembrance of the demonstrations against Asia Energy’s planned open-pit mining at Phulbari in Dinajpur on August 26, 2006.

Three people were killed and many were injured when lawmen into protests against at the Phulbari coal field in August 2006.

Four days after the demonstrations, the then BNP-led government on August 30 signed a six-point agreement with protesters, spearheaded by the national committee to protect oil, gas, mineral resources, power and port to expel Asia Energy from Bangladesh and ban open-pit mining.

The committee, however, expressed its dismay at the non-implementation of the agreement as Asia Energy is still active in the country. The national committee and different left-leaning political organisations have chalked up programmes to mark August 26 as Phulbari Day.

The committee will place flowers at Shaheed Smritistambha at Phulbari and hold a rally there. The committee will also place flowers at the Central Shaheed Minar and observe the day in other places.

Jatiya Gana Front will hold a rally and bring out a procession in Muktangon to mark the day. The organisation in a statement said any move for open-pit mining in Bangladesh would be stopped. Samajtantrik Chhatra Front will also bring out a procession on the Dhaka University campus on the occasion demanding expulsion of Asia Energy from Bangladesh.

Further information:

Phulbari Resistance

Phulbari Resistance on Facebook

Press Statement: Third Mission of the International CHT Commission

International Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission
Bangladesh Secretariat: 10/11, Iqbal Road, Mohammadpur, Dhaka 1207
chtcomm@gmail.com

Press statement

The International Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission (CHTC) appreciates that after 12 years since the signing of the CHT Accord some important measures have been taken to implement the Accord. These include specifically the setting up of the National Committee for Implementation of the CHT Accord, re-establishment of the Land Commission and the Task Force for CHT Refugee Rehabilitation Affairs, the cancellation of plantation leases that have not been properly developed, and the withdrawal of temporary military camps. This has generated a sense of momentum which the CHTC appreciates and encourages. The CHTC congratulates the Prime Minister on her statement on the occasion of the International Indigenous Peoples’ Day in support of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This statement encourages not only the indigenous peoples in Bangladesh, but also all over the world.

Between 11-16 August members of the CHTC visited all three districts of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Commission members met with government representatives, the three brigade commanders and their zone commanders, senior police officers, politicians and civil society leaders, including both Pahari and Bengali representatives.

During meetings with the brigade commanders and their staff the CHTC members were informed that they saw no security risks with compliance to the government policy on the withdrawal of the camps. This view was confirmed by the police and local authorities.

In meetings with all parties the land issue was presented as the main concern. The CHTC therefore considers it of utmost importance that the Land Commission becomes fully activated and funded, including its function as a tribunal to settle land disputes, which should be disposed of before the cadastal survey is undertaken.

The CHTC is disappointed, however, at the rate of progress towards activation of the Land Commission; the Commission’s lack of progress on the determination of disputed land claims; its apparent decision to hold the cadastral survey beforehand and the absence of proposals for electing the Hill District Councils.

The CHT Commission hopes that the Land Commission will establish a database of all disputed land claims, providing the claimants with forms on which they can supply the information required for this purpose. This might be the subject of an approach to international agencies such as UNDP for financial and technical assistance. Because of the complexity of overlapping titles on the same land plots granted in different circumstances, a definitive set of rules should be developed by the Land Commission to rank the relative priority of different kinds of land titles. For those whose claims to land are disallowed, the government should draft rehabilitation measures for discussion with community leaders.

The CHTC was alerted to the necessity of activating and properly funding the Task Force for CHT Refugee Rehabilitation Affairs. Moreover, there is a need for a speedy development of government guidelines for the interaction and division of labour between the Task Force and the Land Commission.

The CHTC further urges continuing measures to enhance access to justice within the CHT, including the activation of legal aid committees.

It is imperative that elections are held for the CHT Regional Council and Hill District Councils and the CHT Commission recommends that alternative electoral methods are explored promptly.

The CHTC has collected a large amount of information including documents given to us by Bengalis and Paharis which remains to be analysed, and as usual will be producing a report on this visit utilising these data We have a further international visit planned for the coming year.

We are convinced that the vast majority of the people of all communities in the CHT are determined to maintain the peace and harmony of the region, and that they will cooperate with the processes that are essential for the purpose. Peace is an essential human right, and all the efforts of both government and people should be devoted to its achievement.

List of meetings:

Civil society in Bandarban
Tribal Muslim Welfare Association
Hill District Council Chairman, Bandarban
Deputy Commissioner, Bandarban
Brigade Commander, Bandarban
Civil society in Rangamati
CHT Regional Council Chairman
Jana Sanghaty Samity (JSS)
United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF)
CHT Forest and Land Committee
Hill District Council Chairman, Rangamati
Deputy Commissioner, Rangamati
Brigade Commander, Rangamati
Civil society in Khagrachori
Brigade Commander, Khagrachori
Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina
Finance Minister, Abul Mal Abdul Muhith
Foreign Minister, Dipu Moni
CHT Land Commission Chairman, Khademul Islam Chowdhury
Parliamentary Standing Committee on CHT and Cultural Minister, Promod Mankin
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh
CHT Minister, Dipankar Talukder
Law Commission, Justice Mohammad Abdur Rashid
European Commission
Donor de-briefing meeting

4.48m households absolutely landless in Bangladesh

Shakhawat Hossain, NewAge, June 8, 2009

The number of landless people in the country is growing steadily because of poverty, river erosion and legal disputes posing a grave threat to socioeconomic progress, according to experts and a government report.
   

The Agriculture Census 2008 conducted by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics revealed that out of 28.67 million households, 4.48 million or 15.62 per cent were absolutely landless.
   

The current rate of increase in landlessness is 12.84 per cent in rural areas against 10.18 per cent in 1996 and 8.67 per cent in 1983-84, added the report released on Sunday.
   

The main reasons for the growing number of landless people, most of whom end up in the sprawling slums and streets of cities, are poverty and widening income disparity.
   

Besides, river erosion and legal disputes have been found as other factors contributing to the present trend of landlessness hindering socioeconomic advancement of the country.
   

MM Akash, teacher of economics at Dhaka University, said most of the landless people migrated to the urban areas in search of job and livelihood putting huge pressure on the cities.
   

Slums are spreading while utility services like electricity, water and transports in cities struggle to cope with the mounting pressure of population, he said.
   

The BBS survey said that Dhaka and Chittagong witnessed a sharp increase in the number of rural migrants in recent years because of rapid urbanisation.
   

Akash pointed out that desperate struggle for survival forced rural migrants to take up informal jobs in cities and even into the underworld aggravating the law and order.
   

Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies director general MK Mujeri said landless people had become a major source of cheap labour supply without which wage rates could be many time higher in metropolitan cities.
   

They suggested immediate measures like land reform to halt migration of landless people to urban areas.
   

Besides, employment generation and skill development training are essential so that the country’s growing formal sector can absorb the swelling army of landless people, they said.

A case of global proportions: Alaska village files suit against energy giants

AlJazeera, May 26, 2009

People & Power visits Alaska where Native American villagers have brought a law suit against energy giants, alleging one of the largest conspiracies in the world.

Download: Kivalina villager’s complaint for damages (PDF)

Bangladesh PM Hasina asked to fulfil her pledge against open-pit mining

Power crisis ‘artificially created’, ‘evil circle’ in power ministry

NewAge, April 22, 2009

The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Port on Tuesday requested Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to fulfil the commitment she had made as the leader of the opposition in 2006 to not allow open-pit mining in the country.
   

‘The former opposition leader and the incumbent prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, visited Phulbari in Dinajpur on September 4, five days after the Phulbari tragedy, and made a strong announcement that she would resist any move to operate any open-pit mine there as well as any other place in the country,’ said the committee’s convenor, Sheikh Md Shahidullah, at a discussion meeting in the National Press Club.
   

He said that Sheikh Hasina had also extended her full support to the agreement that the committee signed on behalf of people of Phulbari with the then BNP-led four-party government for cancelling the contract with Asia Energy for mining the Phulbari coal-field and for banning open-pit mining.
   

The then government signed the six-point Phulbari agreement with the committee, who represented the people of Phulbari, after three persons were killed on August 26, 2006 when law enforcers opened fire on people demonstrating against the Asia Energy’s proposed open-pit mine at Phulbari.
   

Hasina held a public meeting in the premises of the Phulbari Government College on September 4 to protest against the killing. Influential AL leader Matia Chowdhury, who is now the agriculture minister, Mostafizur Rahman Fizar, who is now the state-minister for forest and environment, and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal’s president, Hasanul Haque Inu, were present at that meeting.
   

Shahidullah, at a the discussion meeting on Power Crisis, Evil Circle in Energy Ministry and Aggression of the Multi-National Companies, alleged that a minister, who is a relative of Hasina, had reportedly said that the open-pit mining was the only way to overcome the current energy crisis.
   

He said that energy shortage could be mitigated by underground mining of various coal-fields. ‘If we go for underground mining, we can extract 10-20 per cent of our coal reserve and with this amount we can meet our demand for 20 years. If we do open-pit mining, there will be environmental disaster and the extracted coal will have to be exported because of the high cost of extraction,’ he claimed.
   

The member-secretary of the committee, Professor Anu Mohammad, said that the current power and energy crisis has been ‘artificially created’ so that the country’s gas- and coal-fields can be handed over to foreign companies on the plea of exploration and production. ‘It is like blackmailing the nation to force the launching of projects beneficial to the foreign companies,’ he said.
   

The former director-general of the Power Cell, BD Rahmatullah, also claimed that the power crisis has been artificially created to push more controversial power projects like rental power plants.
   

He blamed the previous BNP-Jamaat government for failing to commission new power plants and observed that the present government had also failed to take any initiative to do so.
   

He also blamed the bureaucracy for the current crisis and observed that the secretariat should be ‘bombarded’ to root out ‘hooligans’.
   

Shahidullah said that certain quarters were blaming the national committee for the delay in formulating the coal policy and awarding of offshore gas blocks. ‘It is the government, which is delaying, not we. The coal policy is being delayed so that it can be formulated in a way that will favour the multinational companies,’ he observed.
   

‘We demand that the coal policy should be formulated immediately, keeping the peoples’ interest in mind. The government should also scrap the bidding process for offshore blocks that took place during the tenure of the interim government and go for fresh bidding after framing a new model production sharing contract by taking the people’s opinion,’ he said.
   

He claimed that the PM’s adviser, Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, was the leader of the ‘evil circle’ in the power and energy ministry, and the new chairman of Petrobangla, Muktadir Ali, was a ‘member’ along with others, and demanded their removal.
   

Justice Golam Rabbani, Professor Shamsul Alam, journalist Syed Abul Maksud and leftist leader Ruhin Hossain Prince were present on the occasion, along with others.

Barapukuria Coal Mine: Committee for acquiring 3.5 sq km area

Staff Correspondent, NewAge, March 13, 2009

The committee, formed to assess compensation for the affected people at Barapukuria coal field in Dinajpur, is likely to recommend acquiring around 3-3.5 square kilometres of area for coal mining by resettling people so that land subsidence does not affect them.
 

An inter-ministerial meeting, headed by the prime minister’s adviser, Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, on March 3 directed the seven-member committee to prepare a complete package programme for compensating people affected by land subsidence at the coal mine area and for future course of action including acquiring of land.
 The meeting also asked the committee to review the land acquiring procedures for Jamuna Bridge and proposed Padma bridge.
 

‘There is no other option for the government but to acquire 3-3.5 square kilometre area as land subsidence at Barapukuria coal mine area will continue if the government continues underground mining. Besides, the land acquiring will also be required if the government goes for open pit mining in future,’ said a source in the seven member-committee.
 

Affected people at Barapukuria have become agitated in recent times as huge land subsidence took place at 300 acres of land and subsequently many houses developed cracks in five villages.
 

‘It is obvious that there will be more land subsidence because of the underground mining. If people continue to live in the mining areas they might be at great risk because of subsidence and there might be protest,’ said the source.
 

He said that the people in the areas needed to be resettled with the payment of an international standard compensation to them.
 

The committee, headed by a joint-secretary of the energy division, however, is finding it difficult to assess the compensation for the affected and resettle them as huge field works were needed to do it. The committee was asked to submit its report in 10days.
 

‘All the committee members are government officials and they have their works at their respective organisations. It will entail an enormous work to determine the compensation for the people of the five villages. Moreover, people should be interviewed to know what they want,’ said a committee source.
 

The committee is likely to recommend a guideline for the government to appoint experts or surveyors to determine what the people in the area want.
 

‘Before assessing the compensation package, finding the actual number of people living in the area, and determination of the amount of arable and residential land, the number of houses, trees and the cost of crops are crucial. Besides, peoples’ views should be taken on where they want to go and what they want to do after relocation,’ said the source.
 

The committee members, however, could not confirm when they would submit the report to the government.
 

The Barapukuria coal field has a reserve of around 389 million tonnes and the authorities will extract 10-20 per cent coal from the underground mine in 30 years. The government, however, may go for the controversial open-pit mining method at the field.

Local communities raise voice against coal policy draft

Correspondent, The New Nation, February 6, 2009 

The dwellers of Phulbari in Dinajpur district, particularly those who would be affected if the open-pit extraction of coals from Barapukuria coal mine is approved, have rejected the draft national coal policy of the expert committee headed by Prof Abdul Matin Patwary.

They have also announced an action programme of staging demonstration in front of the gate of the coal mine project at Barapukuria on February 10 against the draft national coal policy and warned that they will go for a tough action programme. Deep resentment and tension have been prevailing among the dwellers of Phulbari and the affected people of the open-pit coal extraction at Barapukuria.

Talking to this Correspondent, leader of the Phulbari coal mine movement and chairman of the upazila, Aminul Islam Bablu said yesterday that the report of the Patwary Commission was like that of examining the quality of poison by swallowing the poison.

He said there would be an acute scarcity of water in the area and there might be a situation of acid rain like that of Costa Rica after emission of methane gas from the ground table which would have a catastrophic effect on the environment.

Bablu reminded that while visiting the area on September 6 in 2006, Sheikh Hasina, the then opposition leader, had expressed solidarity with the Six-point anti-Asia Energy movement of Phulbari people that claimed many lives on August 26 in 2006. “It would be a betrayal and bluff with the Phulbari dwellers if the incumbent Prime Minister implements the proposal of the Patwary Commission now,” he said, reminding that it was mentioned in the six-point that open-pit extraction of coal could not be carried out anywhere in the country.

Syed Saiful Islam Jewel, Convener of Phulbari unit of the National Committee for protection of oil, gas, power, port and national resources, said the arable fertile lands could not be ruined in the name of extraction of natural resources to ensure food security.

He threatened that they would go for a tough action programme if the government went for implementation of open-pit extraction of coals from Barapukuria coal mine Wazed Ali of Kalupara village, Ruhul Amin of Banshpukur village, Moyen Uddin of Badiyanathpur, Mushfiqur Rahim of Shibkrishnapur and other affected villagers categorically said that they would not move to other places from their ancestral homes by taking compensation and they would fight for their right till their death.

Expressing their anguish over the dubious role of state minister for Forests and Environment and Awami League legislator Advocate Mostafizur Rahman Fizar from Dinajpur-5 constituency, they claimed that the minister was tempting the affected people of Barapukuria coal mine of allocating them flats in the city’s Uttara Model Town

Let not Barapukuria turn into another Phulbari

Editorial: NewAge, February 4, 2009

THE government looks set to develop an open-pit coalmine at Barapukuria in Dinajpur after underground mining triggered land subsidence, so says a report published in New Age on Tuesday. The government, according to the report, has already asked members of parliament and local government representatives in Dinajpur to motivate people in favour of an open-pit operation at the Barapukuria coalfield. The report also says the local people have been advised to propose resettlement, rehabilitation and compensation packages.
   

Open-pit coalmine has been a sensitive issue ever since Asia Energy, a UK-based mining company, proposed to develop an open-pit coalmine at Phulbari in Dinajpur. Three persons were killed and several others wounded in August 2006 when law enforcers opened fire on a procession, brought out as part of a sustained campaigned by a citizens’ platform called the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Port. There are a number of other organisations, including the Bangladesh Economic Association, and sections of citizens who are opposed to development of an open-pit mine.
   

Critics say open-pit mining causes long-term and severe environmental damage. The effect can be felt not just in the area around the mine but also from miles away as toxic waste drain into the natural water system. Groundwater for miles around the mine sees a drastic fall. Considering that this northern part of Bangladesh is very fertile and produces a substantial amount of cereal every year, which is crucial for the country’s food security. Environmental damage, besides resulting in potential crop losses, would also affect public health. Even after the mine has been filled and land returned, it is unlikely that the soil would instantly regain its fertility.
   

It should also be noted that typical sites of open-pit coalmines around the world are located in areas where population density is far below than that of Dinajpur and thus risks affecting the livelihoods of many more than practical experiences—instances from China, Germany or Australia—might indicate. Although the draft coal policy—which is yet to be adopted—allows the provision of one open-pit mine on a limited scale to gauge its effect on environment, other thorny issues like coal export and resettlement plans still unresolved. Also, there is yet to be a comprehensive mining or energy policy governing the extraction of fossil fuel or other minerals. While all this time there have been raging debates about the merits and demerits of a coalmine, neither the government nor any of the organisations opposing open-pit method has conducted a thorough cost-benefit analysis of open-pit mine.
   

We urge the government to commission a thorough analysis of the potential costs involved, including environmental damage, foregone production of crop, loss of livelihood for at least the duration of mining, loss of forests, timber and biodiversity, costs for rehabilitation, resettlement and compensation of the local people, infrastructure expenditure and establishment of rail link from the mine site. These costs should then be compared against the potentially realistic benefits to find out if open-pit mining has an economic rationale in the first place. Only then could we have a sound basis for substantive argument for or against coalmining methods.

Phulbari coal project and other contentious energy issues in store for next govt

NewAge, January 4, 2008

The Awami League-led alliance, which is set to form the government, will need to deal with some contentious issues in energy sector such as formulation of a coal policy taking into account national interests, demand for the cancellation of the agreement with Asia Energy for the Phulbari coal field and the award of offshore blocks to international oil companies.

It will also find it tough to implement its election pledge to increase the power generation to 7000MW by 2013 from about 3800MW now because of gas shortage, which has already hit generation in the existing power plants.

The interim government has left the coal policy, Asia Energy and offshore blocks issue for the elected government amid controversy and protests by rights groups over the open-pit mining method and export provision in the model production sharing contracts for gas blocks.

‘Successive heads of the government have kept the power and energy ministry in their hands. The sector is plagued with corruption as a huge amount of money is transacted in the sector and it is heavily investment-dependent. A full minister should be appointed this time for the energy and power sector,’ observed an energy expert as he talked with New Age on Saturday.

Energy expert Professor Nurul Islam of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, on the other hand, said the new government should formulate an integrated national energy policy by including coal policy and barring export of any local energy such as gas and coal as Bangladesh is facing an energy crisis.

He told New Age on Saturday the government should integrate into the national energy policy the version of coal policy the advisory committee, headed by BUET professor Abdul Matin Patwari, finalised. The latest draft of the coal policy, however, is slightly different as the energy division made some changes.

Nurul also recommended the government should cancel the procedure to award two international oil companies nine offshore blocks and go for fresh bidding by scrapping the provision for the export of gas up to 80 per cent in the model production sharing contract.

‘Leaders of the Awami League, Workers Party of Bangladesh and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal time and again expressed their solidarity with us in our demand for a coal policy barring open-pit mine, cancellation of the agreement with Asia Energy and award of offshore blocks to two international oil companies. As they are set to form the government, we hope they will meet our demands,’ said Professor Anu Muhammad, member secretary on the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources Power and Port.

Anu Muhammad also hoped the new government will implement fully the agreement the former BNP-led government signed with the committee to bar open-pit mining in Bangladesh and to expel Asia Energy from Bangladesh.

‘We also demand the new government should cancel the offshore bidding as the existing PSC has a provision for export of 80 per cent of gas,’ he said. He said they would continue with their movements until their demands are met.

Power experts feel the Awami League-led government will be in better position in terms of availability of funds for the installation of power plants as the government has already signed contracts with the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and the Japan Bank of International Cooperation for around $1 billion of loan for the installation of power plants with 1,000MW capacity. Three to four more power plants are in the pipeline whereas the investors have interest in the installation of around 1,000MW impendent power plant.

‘But the main problem the new government will face is the conditions of the lenders and shortage of gas to run the plants. If the new government wants to increase power generation to 7,000MW, around 700 million cubic feet of additional gas will be needed for the additional 3,000MW of power,’ said a power division official.

With the existing gas reserve, it is highly unlikely to produce another 700mmcfd of gas by 2013 while the additional coal extraction is unlikely before 2013 even if the government approves coal policy in three months, he said.

UK government withdraws support for GCM’s mining project in Bangladesh

World Development Movement, December 19, 2008

Minister backtracks on previous statements over controversial mine project following campaign by WDM

UK company Global Coal Management Resources’ (GCM) plans to build an open-cast coal mine in Phulbari, north-west Bangladesh appeared in jeopardy after a UK government minister withdrew official support for the project. If built the mine would take away the land of more than 40,000 people, and compromise the water supply of a further 100,000.

Since the start of 2008, the Asian Development Bank, Barclays and RBS have all withdrawn from investing in the project. However in April 2008 a parliamentary answer revealed UK government support for the project.

Gareth Thomas, Chairman of the Cooperative Party and UK Minister for International Development and Minister for Business said:

“We have provided support to Global Coal Management Resources PLC, through the British high commission in Dhaka. They have lobbied to ensure that the Government of Bangladesh take the company’s interests into consideration and do not prohibit opencast mining. The British high commission will continue to remain in touch with the company and will represent their interests as appropriate.”

In a further parliamentary answer Gareth Thomas stated:

“BERR officials have held regular discussions with officials from the Department for International Development on this subject, both in the UK and the British high commission in Dhaka.”

Since September 2008, WDM supporters have been emailing Gareth Thomas about the mine. In a bizarre game of ‘ping pong’ these emails have been bounced between both BERR and DfID. With responses from both departments requesting that the other be contacted.

On the 18th of November 2008, WDM finally received a response from Gareth Thomas, revealing a different approach to the mine:

“UKTI is not currently actively supporting GCM’s proposed project in Bangladesh”

He goes on to mention that “The British Government is committed to encouraging businesses to operate responsibly”

WDM welcomes the change in position, but will continue to monitor the situation to make sure there is no future UK government lobbying on behalf of GCM.

For more information and to take action go to:

Take Action

Kate Blagojevic
Press officer, World Development Movement
0207 820 4900/4913, 07711 875 345

Email: kate.blagojevic@wdm.org.uk