By Staff Correspondent, Dhaka – Bangladesh has conditionally approved the construction of a new campus of Rabindra University, named after Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore, in Shahjadpur of the northern district of Sirajganj — pending environmental clearance.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), chaired by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, greenlit the project along with other development schemes during a meeting on Sunday, according to a senior interim administration adviser.
Planning Adviser Wahiduddin Mahmud said that while the project was initially proposed in 2018, construction can only begin after obtaining clearance from the Department of Environment (DoE).
The condition was imposed after the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change flagged concerns over the proposed site’s location in an environmentally sensitive area.
The government has allocated 519 crore takas for the university’s infrastructure, with implementation scheduled from May 2025 to April 2029. The permanent campus will span 100 acres in Buri Potajia of Shahjadpur. The University began its journey at a campus in Sirajganj in 2018 with 113 students in three departments.
Earlier, in May, ECNEC deferred its approval for further review.
Environmentalists and water experts have since raised alarms, noting that the site lies at the tail end of Chalan Beel, where over a hundred canals, wetlands, and nearly fifty rivers — including the Baral River — converge before flowing into the Jamuna.
They warn that construction could disrupt this critical water system.
Mahmud clarified that the land, previously used for grazing, was classified as non-agricultural in 2018 with a no-objection certificate from the Ministry of Land, conditional on environmental clearance.
During the ECNEC meeting, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, adviser for Environment, Forest, Climate Change, and Water Resources, strongly objected to the project, prompting a lengthy debate.
Ultimately, the committee approved it provisionally, mandating DoE clearance within two months.
