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BNP to find out why oil tanker sank

Fakhrul alleges govt destroying Sundarbans in a planned way

Staff Correspondent
The BNP yesterday formed a committee to find out what caused an oil tanker to sink on December 9 in the Shela River crisscrossing the Sundarbans and its impact on the biodiversity of the forest.
Maj (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed, vice-chairman of the party, will lead the seven-member team commissioned by party Chairperson Khaleda Zia to do the probe.
She asked the committee to start working today and submit a report to her by December 25, said a source at Khaleda's Gulshan office in the capital.
The other members include former BNP lawmaker Nazrul Islam Manju, Khulna City Corporation Mayor Moniruzzaman Moni, environmental activist Sheikh Faridul Islam and Quamrul Islam Chowdhury, chairman of Bangladesh Environmental Journalists Forum and news editor of state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha.
Hafiz said their aim was to find out the extent of damage to the environment in the area and identify if there was any fault on the part of the government or its administration, which caused the incident.
When his attention was drawn to Khaleda's remark that the incident was pre-planned and the government was behind it, he did not make any comment.
Hit by a cargo vessel, the tanker, Southern Star-7, carrying 3.58 lakh litres of furnace oil went down in the Shela river near Mongla upazila of Bagerhat. Almost the whole amount of the oil spilled and spread on a stretch of 100 kilometres in the Shela and Pashur rivers and their adjoining canals.
At a press conference at the party's Nayapaltan central office, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday alleged that the world's largest mangrove forest was being destroyed in a planned way.
He added that suspicions had been raised from different quarters, including environmental scientists, that the
incident was part of a conspiracy to destroy the Sundarbans to pave the way for setting up of the proposed Rampal Power Plant about 14 kilometres off the forest.
The party spokesman held the press conference to announce an eight-day programme to be organised by proBNP Jatiyatabadi Krishok Dal to mark its 34th founding anniversary.
Fakhrul there demanded an impartial investigation into the oil spill, arrest of those responsible and their punishment immediately.
"The government is destroying our heritage like the Sundarbans at whim," he claimed.
He also lambasted the government for importing rice seeds "Nerica" from Africa, saying that Nerica produces 1.7 tonnes of rice per hectare whereas any type of Boro seeds ''Bri" produces four times the amount.
The government in 2011 imported five tonnes of Nerica seeds for the first time as the variety is drought-tolerant
and requires less water to grow. Besides, it has no lodging or shattering problems, its grains have better protein value and crops can be harvested in less than 100 days.
Fakhrul also criticised the government, saying it was trying to import duty-free rice from India despite bumper production of Aman in the country in the current season.
However, according to the food ministry's website, only private sector imported 444 thousand tonnes of rice between July 1 and December 15. The government has not yet floated any tender for rice import.
Fakhrul at the press conference demanded cutting down of the prices of diesel for irrigation as well as the agricultural equipment.
A memorandum will be submitted to all deputy commissioners on December 23 regarding the issue, said Fakhrul, also Krishok Dal president.