MORE than 200 families, displaced by the acquisition of land for the Ashuganj Power Plant in Patuakhali, having been denied fair price points to corruption, mismanagement and carelessness. The families, who had to move out of their land giving up their livelihoods, too, are, as a Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan study says, likely to get less than a third of the market price for their land. The rate the government has fixed for the 926 acres of land appears to be nothing short of robbery in daylight. The government rate, for example, for the land ranges from Tk 7,000 to Tk 21,000 a decimal while the market price is, as the study says, no less than Tk 50,000. What is further disturbing is that the families face difficulty in getting even the set price unless they pay a large sum in bribes. A syndicate of brokers are reported to be exploiting the families.

The study says that people are forced to pay about 8–10 per cent of the land value in bribes and the commission goes up to 20 per cent or higher if there is any disputed ownership of the land. Brokers also exploit the situation by creating land disputes and goading relatives of land owners to file false cases as a single case of dispute means more money in bribes. Moreover, most families are yet to receive the money in full as only the government has paid its share of the land price while the power plant authorities have not yet paid their share. All this is unacceptable. The fossil fuel-based plant, initially planned to be coal-based to generate 1,320MW of power and later transformed into an LNG-based 2,400MW plant, has also come to draw criticism for its likely negative impact on the environment and people. The plant is located critically close to hilsa breeding ground and poses a serious threat to aquatic biodiversity. Such corruption and deprivation, however, are not unique to the Ashuganj Power Plant but a commonplace happening with most projects, depriving people in one way or another and showing a blatant disregard for the environment.

The authorities must, therefore, look into the issue of deprivation of the displaced people. The authorities must arrange for an early payment of the price and not let any syndicate of brokers exploit the people. As for concerns such as the environment issue and livelihoods, the authorities must attend to them adequately. With about 60 per cent power overcapacity, the government can easily do away with any environmentally-hazardous power plant and deliver on its promises to shift towards renewable energy for power generation.