Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
Vol. 5 Num 820 Sat. September 16, 2006  
   
National


Phulbari Coal
Major parties criticised for 'inaction'


The speakers at a roundtable here yesterday blamed major political parties for their alleged inaction while the government approved a foreign company's plan to extract Phulbari coal in open pit mining system without considering national interest.

They demanded cancellation of the deal with Asia Energy Corporation (AEC) to extract the coal.

Gono Unnayan Gronthagar, a Borga-based NGOs, organised the roundtable held at Dinajpur Press Club.

Coal should be extracted to generate energy to meet growing demands. But the deal with Asia Energy Corporation (AEC) allowed it to export over 90 of the coal, which energy starved Bangladesh can not afford, they said.

Md. Mossaddeque Hossain Labu, a member of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, said major political parties ignored the whole thing when local people protested the open pit mining. They came after people were killed during protests, he said.