How many more wake-up calls do authorities need to realise that carrying coal, or other ecologically harmful substances, particularly on faulty vessels, through the Sundarbans, is a recipe for disaster? A lighterage ship carrying over 1,000 tonnes of coal to Noapara in Jessore sank in the Pasur River, and given the choppy water conditions it is near impossible to locate the sunken vessel in time for salvaging it. This is the fourth accident in two years and we have written about these accidents umpteen number of times but to no avail. We wonder at the likely eventualities when the Rampal power plant becomes operational and the traffic of coal-carrying vessels increase exponentially. Given the dismal performance of authorities to check unfit vessels plying our waters, we wonder what precisely might be the accident rate when thousands of tonnes of coal will have to be transported using these rivers?

The idea of a coal-based power plant so close to the Sundarbans is fraught with danger, and our stand on the issue is not in consonance with the government's. We have to remember that while the Rampal plant may use higher grade coal, the project will require 10,000 tonnes of coal on a daily basis. This quantity will require a lot of vessels to operate along the Pasur, through the forest every day. These are ground realities and it is high time the authorities woke up to the possibilities, among other things, of accidents, and accidents can happen, and their effects on the Sundarbans. After all, we have only one of its kind.