Nat’l committee stages rally and march against deal

http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/national/23521.htmlThe national committee's leaders on Wednesday called on the Awami League-led government to cancel the Production and Sharing Contract with US oil company Conoco Phillips for extraction of gas from two offshore blocks for the sake of the country's energy security.

The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports staged a rally at Jatrabari crossing to drum up support for the half-day hartal called by it in the capital on July 3 to press home its seven demands, including cancellation of the deal.

Ragib Ahsan Munna termed the deal contrary to the national interest as most of the extracted gas will be exported and we will not be able to use the gas for our domestic purposes.

The rally, chaired by committee leader Mohin Uddin Chowdhury Liton, was addressed by Abdus Sattar and Nazrul Islam, along with others.

The leaders condemned the personal attack on the committee's member-secretary Anu Muhammad by Hasan Mahmud, state minister for forest and environment, and pointed out that Anu is an eminent economist and has the capacity to analyse and criticise the deal.

The state minister on Tuesday in the secretariat told Anu Muhammad not to speak about the deal since he knows nothing about geology.

Energy adviser to the prime minister Toufiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, who has been closely involved in the one-sided deal with the US company, is also a student of economics, said the committee's leaders.

The rally was followed by a march towards Saidabad by the leaders and activists of the committee.

The committee will stage a march on Thursday from Mirpur-10 to Pallabi at 4:30pm.

The committee's leaders distributed leaflets to people in front of the Press Club and High Court.

Anu Muhammad, Ruhin Hossain Prince, Bazlur Rashid Firoz, Ahsan Habib Lablu, Zonayed Saki, Mozammel Haque Tara, Mehdi Hasan and Khan Asaduzzaman Masum also took part in the protest programme.

Source : New Age

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