 |
|
||
 |
|||
| Improve Your World | Home | About Us | Sitemap | Search | Contact Us | ||
|
|
||||||||
| Please help us in making this a comprehensive resource section for those directly connected or affected by this issue e.g. citizens, NGOs, government officers, students, teachers, researchers. Please directly upload or email us relevant content. This can include lists, articles, photographs, research papers, links to websites, etc. Please volunteer as an expert panelist to whom we can direct queries from our website visitors. |
| Home >> Physically Challenged : News Articles >> Physically Challenged : News Articles |   Email this Page |
|
|||
|
New rehab policy bats for the displaced
World Bank's resettlement guidelines aim to ensure a better deal for project-affected people...........Zeeshan Shaikh Mumbai
PEOPLE DISPLACED by infrastructure projects in the city will not get a raw deal anymore, thanks to the World Bank - the major provider of funds for the projects.
Rehabilitation is a major issue in Mumbai - the city that is committed to investing over Rs 43,000 crore in building new railway corridors, metro, flyovers and upgrading its drains and water supply systems.
The World Bank's concern over the rehabilitation issue and the differences on the issue with the state government had led to the delay of various projects. It will come up with a new set of resettlement guidelines in September. The guidelines will have to be used for all infrastructure projects in the city being funded by it. On Thursday and Friday , the World Bank held a workshop in Goa on rehabilitation issues. The workshop was attended by senior government officials to help formulate a new rehab policy . The new policy will aim at rehabilitating project-affected persons (PAPs) in a more equitable and holistic way , leading to faster implementation of projects. Officials, who participated in the meeting, said the new guidelines would streamline the rehabilitation process and lay down guidelines minimising conflict between state bodies and the World Bank. The rehabilitation of people affected by infrastructure projects in the city has been the bone of contention between the World Bank and bureaucrats in the state. In March 2006, the World Bank had temporarily suspended financial support to the Rs 4,526-crore Mumbai Ur ban Transport Project due to concerns about the equitable treatment and resettlement of the affected people. The funding was subsequently restarted in June 2006 after assurance from the Centre. Under the present rehabilitation policy, the Project-Affected People, especially those having commercial es tablishments, were being rehabilitated without considering the business suitability of the new locations. "Of the various features, the new policy stresses that the state bodies should not undertake rehabilitation of commercial PAPs on the basis of simple entitlement of land, but should also take into consideration the business suitability of the new locations," said a senior MMRDA official, who attended the meeting. The state government had recently issued an order, asking departments not to seek funds from World Bank due to its stringent norms on rehabilitation. However, with numerous infrastructure projects lined up, funding agen cies such as Japanese Bank for International Corporation are also queuing up for these projects. Officials said the World Bank's plans of revamping its rehabilitation policies, taking into account the bureaucrats' views, may be a way of keeping its hands in the state's burgeoning infrastructure pie. URL: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/artMailDisp.aspx?article=15_07_2008_006_001&typ=0&pub=264 |
