G Rohit of the Human Right Forum, Andhra Pradesh, said it was a landmark decision by the bank. “WB took this decision after several representations from NGOs and people’s movements. In the TDP government, there was no transparency or accountability regarding the Amaravati capital city project. The concerns and issues of affected communities were brushed aside. There were gross violations which threatened the environment, stole livelihoods,” Rohit said.
The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) issued a statement saying: “We are happy that World Bank took cognisance of the gross violations involved in the Amaravati Capital City project, threatening the livelihood of people and fragile environment. After Narmada and Tata Mundra, this is the third major victory against the World Bank Group. We are happy that the Inspection Panel which was created due to the struggle of Narmada Bachao Andolan played its critical role here. While we celebrate this victory of people, who stood up to the intimidation and terror of the state, we warn the government and financial institutions not to push their agenda without the consent of the people.”
Mallela Sheshagiri Rao, the lawyer who represented Capital Region Farmers Federation, said that ever since the Amaravati Capital City project was announced,environmental experts, civil society organisations and grassroots movements have expressed their anguish over the grave violations of the social and environmental laws, financial unviability, massive land-grabbing of the fertile land in the garb of voluntary land-pooling, open threats to the complainants by none other than the then Chief Minister, along with concerns of losing fertile farmlands and livelihoods.
“Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which was supposed to give 50 per cent of the $300 million may also withdraw from the project as a co-financier,” Rao said. The World Bank and AIIB were under consideration to ultimately fund about $715 million for the Amaravati project.
The Working Group on International Financial Institutions (WGonIFIs) had petitioned the World Bank several times and put a lot of pressure demanding that Andhra Pradesh scrap the CRDA Land Pooling Act and notifications passed subsequently, which, they claimed, were inconsistent with the 2013 Central Act. The group demanded that the state fully implement the Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation Act, 2013 in the case of all the affected people of Amaravati Capital Region.
Also, the government should return the plots that were taken involuntarily from the people, the group demanded. WGonIFIs also demanded a judicial inquiry into the socio-economic damage, land transactions and psychological trauma of agricultural, coastal, and pastoral labourers, tenants, landless families, Dalits who have undergone severe pressure and fear, due to the land acquisition and displacement process; announce a Special Compensation Package for Dalits and other assigned landholders as their social life has been damaged to a great extent in the past five years; prosecute brokers, real estate agents and other persons who purchased or facilitated the purchase of assigned lands after the announcement of Capital Region; stop attempts to de-list Dalit farmers from records through alleged dubious documentary manipulation and consider all Dalit cultivators in possession of the land as the original owners of the land for purposes of compensation and R&R under the 2013 Act.