Increased ADB funding to land Manipur, other NE states

The Centre for Research and Advocacy (CRA), Manipur, has expressed grave concerns regarding increased funding by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other international financial institutions in Manipur and other states in Northeast India, claiming that it will exacerbate the government's and the people's debt situations. The Kangchup Tamenglong Road Project, the Imphal Town Ring Road Project, the projected financing of the Loktak Ecotourism Project, the Lower Kopili dam in Assam, and other projects funded by the ADB were noted by the CRA in a release. The CRA claimed that the ADB-funded road projects in Manipur, including the Kangchup Tamenglong Road Project and the Imphal Town Ring Road Project under the South Asia Sub Economic Cooperation project, are beset by issues, such as the failure to obtain the consent of impacted communities and conduct a thorough Environment Impact Assessment. The statement further stated that because their land was taken forcibly without offering them alternate means of subsistence, the affected peasants will be forced to improvise. Indigenous groups that are impacted by ADB projects that affect their land rights have complaints that they were excluded from the development decision-making process. Manipur has long been a source of worry over the ADB's safeguard policies, it said.