Norway withdraws funds from BHEL for Rampal worries

Norway's wealth fund has excluded Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) from its investment portfolio as the fund's ethics watchdog has said that the Indian company, which is engaged in implementing the much-talked- about Rampal 1320 MW power plant, did not reply to the Council's inquiries regarding some environmental issues relating to the World Heritage site Sundarban.
"It's  stock was excluded from the Norwegian fund's portfolio because of the risk of severe environmental damage" resulting from the building of a coal-fired power plant close to the Sundarban, the world's largest mangrove forest, in Bangladesh, the fund's ethics watchdog said in a statement, the Norwegian central bank said on Friday.
Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company (Pvt) Ltd (BIFPCL) decided to set up 1320 MW coal- based "Maitree Super Thermal Power Project" on 915 acres of land at Sapmari-Katakhali and Kaigardaskhati mouja under Rajnagar union of Rampal upazila in Bagerhat in October 2012.
UN world heritage body has said the Rampal coal plant poses a 'serious threat' to a key ecosystem for Bengal tigers and must be cancelled but government has decided to go ahead with this project although the environment-activists and civil society opposes the idea.
The UN's world heritage body has made an urgent intervention to stop the construction of a coal power station, and asked the government to reply six of its queries. The Noregian Council asked BHEL the same set of questions but it did not reply.
"What we have been saying across the globe have been dubbed rubbish�.this is unfortunate, we don't know how much the nation would pay from this bad investment," a frustrated Professor Anu Muhammad said.
 The UN report said ships carrying coal and other material for the plant's functioning will move through the mangrove forest, requiring dredging and dumping of 32.1 million cubic metres of river bottom at first and the further annual dredging. This threatens the breeding grounds of the endangered Ganges and Irrawaddy river dolphins.
The $935-billion Norwegian fund, the world's largest, is not allowed to invest in companies that breach certain ethical guidelines set by the Norwegian parliament. These include producing nuclear weapons, tobacco or anti-personnel landmines.
According to available data on website, the Norwegian central bank's Board is run by an ethical council and accountable to the parliament. The Council on Ethics makes recommendations to the board of the central bank, which then decides whether to follow them through and instructs the fund's management to take action. The fund is managed by a unit of the central bank.
This is an area with "universally unique environmental qualities" the Council on Ethics said, adding that "there is an unacceptable risk of the company contributing to or being responsible for severe environmental damage," the Council observed.
Dr Abdullah Harun, Professor of Environmental Science Discipline of the Khulna University, has prepared a report on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) which says that nearly 220 tonnes of different toxic gases will be emitted daily from the power plant. The authorities say that the toxic gases will be properly treated before emission by using higher technology but, according to environmentalists, that won't be enough to protect the forest. These toxic gases can be considered as environment pollutants and hazardous substance under Section-2 of Environment Conservation Act, 1995. The ships' coal carrying through the forest will emit toxic waste, which is also restricted by Section-6 of the Act.
The watchdog said that BHEL "did not reply to the Council's inquiries initially, but has later submitted comments to a draft recommendation, stating that there is no need to dredge the waterways" through which ships will access the plant.