Bagerhat: Executive director of Ain O Salish Kendro Sultana Kamal on Sunday said the government is moving ahead with the works to build coal-fired power plant in Rampal area of the district without bothering to conduct a proper environmental impact assessment.

‘If the power plant is built here, it will harm both the Sundarban and the environment. The biodiversity of the world heritage site - the Sundarbans - will be endangered,’ she said.

Sultana Kamal, also a former caretaker government adviser, said this to reporters before attending a views-exchange meeting on human rights at Bagerhat Press Club.

‘Not only power plant but also all factories near the Sundarban will bring forth adverse outcomes,’ she noted.

People need to protect the Sundarbans as the mangrove forest protects the coastal people from various natural calamities, she said adding all the attempts to build power plant and other factories surrounding the Sundarban need to be stopped.

While the authorities in India do not allow the construction of any industrial unit within 14 km of the Sundarban, the power plant is being built here within 10 km of the forest, she added.