The area is rich in biodiversity, hosting a large variety of mangrove forests, as well as tigers, crocodiles, snakes and wild deer.
The Sundarbans also provide an effective flood and storm barrier for the millions who live in and around Kolkata, West Bengal.
But this precious area is also under threat from development. Bangladesh is a developing country, and it needs energy.
Plans are afoot to build a large coal power station on the Bangladesh side of the border with India. Local journalist Probir Kumar Sarker has sent us the following report.
It is frustrating that the government is moving ahead with the much-opposed 1320MW coal-fired power plant at the mouth of the Sundarbans in Rampal of Bagerhat, along Poshur river, despite the fact that the proposed project is yet to get complete environmental clearance and nod from the High Court.
Averting the possible hazards on the people around the project and the Sundarbans' creatures and plants, the Bangladesh government on January 29 signed a joint venture agreement with India's state-run electricity generation company to implement the $1.5 billion project keeping the issues of ‘price of electricity' and ‘funding' unresolved. Read the full report here.
Source: RTCC.
