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.