The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports made the declaration at a day long sit-in-protest at the Central Shaheed Minar.
The committee member secretary Anu Mohammad also announced a three month long protest programme demanding the cancellation of the power plant.
Professor Anu Mohammad said: “if the environmentally destructive project is not cancelled within November 23 we will begin our ‘Chalo Chalo Dhaka Chalo’ programme from November 24 along with a mass rally on November 26 in Dhaka”.
The three-month programmes will be begin from September which will include rallies, conventions, dramatic performances etc. across the country.
“We will hold a rally and go to the Indian High Commission to present an open letter to the
Indian government very soon,”Anu said.
Professor Anu Mohammad warned: “If there is any obstruction from the government during our peaceful march we will call a nation wide hartal or a blockage.”
Protesting the coal-fired Rampal power plant, the sit-in began at 11.00am and continued till 7.00pm.
The protest drew concerned citizens, prominent civil society activists as well as politicians.
Communist Party president Mujahidul Islam Selim said that the coal-fired power plant at Rampal must not be built and that the government must understand the political consequences of the mass awakening.
“We will continue to fight to protect the Sundarbans,” he added.
Warning the government, the prominent writer and researcher Syed Abul Maksud said: “This project is against the nation, this project is against the sentiment of the liberation war.”
“Someday people will equate those in favour of the Rampal power plant with war criminals like Golam Azam and Sayedi,” he added.
Professor Emeritus of Dhaka University Serajul Islam Choudhury said: “This is a matter of life and death and losing is not an option.”
The protest was joined by Dhaka University professor Gitiara Nasreen, Fahmidul Haq, activist Khusi Kabir, Rehnuma Ahmed, amongst many others.
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