ON AUGUST 26, the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power, and Port commemorated the lives lost in the movement against an open-pit coal mine in Phulbari, Dinajpur, and expressed their sheer frustration at successive governments鈥� indifference towards the full implementation of the Phulbari Agreement. Defying public opposition, the government gave a license to a UK-based company, Asia Energy, to extract coal from the area, which prompted a huge protest in August 2006. Local farmers and indigenous communities protested against the coal mine, as the extraction activities would threaten their livelihood and displace them from their ancestral land. Police violence took the lives of three protesters but failed to quell the protest. In the face of national and international protests, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government agreed to stop mining activities in the area. The Awami League, the then-parliamentary opposition, also visited the area and publicly announced that it would ensure full implementation of the agreement when in power. None of the two parties that had been in power since the signing of the agreement has taken any decisive steps in this regard. Nearly two decades later, shockingly, the agreement remained an ineffectual piece of document and nothing more than that.
In 2006, the government agreed to cancel Asia Energy鈥檚 work permit in Bangladesh, scrap all projects of coal mining in Bangladesh, compensate the victims of police violence in Phulbari, and withdraw all legal cases that were filed against the locals for their involvement in the movement. The open-pit mine in Barapukuria, Dinajpur, is still in operation, which is a direct violation of the Phulbari agreement. Family members of the three young men killed as police opened fire on August 26, 2006, have not been adequately compensated, and the injured protesters are socio-economically struggling without proper treatment and promised compensation. The cases filed against the locals are still there and are occasionally used by the local administration and law enforcers to intimidate and harass them. The adverse effects of open-pit mining on the landscape have already been reported. Green activists blame successive governments鈥� general tendency to serve multinational corporate interests for the delay. Moreover, the existing mineral resource management policy, particularly the use of coal in energy production and for global export, is still flawed from an environmental and economic perspective.
The government that assumed power following the fall of the repressive regime of the Awami League must act, recognising that the delay in the implementation of the Phulbari agreement was a betrayal of public trust. It must, therefore, initiate dialogue with the national committee and ensure the full implementation of the accord at its earliest. It must immediately withdraw all legal cases against locals in Phulbari. The families of the protesters, who sacrificed their lives to protect the local environment and livelihoods of many, should be paid adequate compensation. More importantly, the government should stop the mining activities in Barapukuria, considering the reported environmental damages.