Dhaka: The National Committee to Protect Oil-Gas-Natural Resources and Power-Port on Saturday gave the government until 23 November to scrap the deal signed with India for setting up Rampal power plant at a location close to the Sundarbans.

Or else, they will hold a protest programme, ‘Cholo Cholo Dhaka Cholo’, on 25 November and a grand rally in Dhaka on 26 November, the committee made the announcement from a daylong sit-in programme at Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka, reports UNB.

The committee will also send an open letter to the Indian Prime Minister and hold a rally in front of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.

It will also hold meetings, seminars and awareness-building programmes against the project over the next three months across the country.

The sit-in programme started at about 11:00am and continued till 6:00pm with eminent personalities of the country joining it to press home their eleven-point demand, including cancellation of the project agreement.

Different political and cultural organizations, including Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (BSD) and Ganosanghati Andolan also joined the programme to express their solidarity.

Terming the project a conspiracy of several people against the country’s people, noted columnist Syed Abul Maksud said the names of conspirators will be written with the names of war criminals Ghulam Azam and Delwar Hossain Sayedee as they are trying to implement the project against the interest of country.

Noted educationalist Serajul Islam Choudhury said the Sundarbans protect the country’s people from natural disasters. Some profit mongers are trying to implement the project in their own interest destructing the forests.

Committee member secretary Prof Anu Muhammad said there are alternatives to the government or the ministers who are going to implement the project but there is no alternative to the Sundarbans.

Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Ltd (BIFPCL), a joint venture company formed by Dhaka and New Delhi, signed a contract on 12 July with Indian contractor BHEL to set up the plant.

The committee also announced a programme to hold a mass rally on 26 August marking 10 years of Phulbari Day.