Flood plan opposed

THE INTERNATIONAL Flood Action Campaign Committee says the Flood Action Plan (FAP) for Bangladesh, coordinated by the World Bank, ignores environmental aspects and will uproot thousands of people.

The Brussels-based coalition of European parliamentarians, nongovernmental organisations and academics, demands environmental impact studies be done before project work begins. This could affect funding, which has already plummeted from $15 billion to $1 billion, according to a World Bank official.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh has opted out of a conference on FAP in which the Farakka barrage controversy was likely to be discussed. The move was apparently to avoid offending India.