& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Saifur critical of donors' policy on compensation
Finance Minister Saifur Rahman yesterday said donors polio on compensation Io project-affected people is loo ambitious and requires to be timed with the socio-economic realities of Bangladesh, reports UNB
He was Inauguration a pa tional workshop on Involuntary Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy' in the conference room of the National Economic Council (NEC) in the morning.
Rahman, while admitting "ruthless’’exploitation’of peo pie ip different develop: ■ projects n the p -cautioned th ' projects would -nl j> viable il the Work! Bank resek tlement guidelines put too much burden on project costs.
. He referred To resettlement costs in the . Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge Project (J MBA) that shot up to'58 million US dollars from the Initial estimates of 16 iniilicni.
The minister attributed the high cost to the donor-insisted compensation package for JMBA which, according to him. had not been reasonable as(per the country's standard and encouraged local vested interests to manipulate gov ernment funds.
Citing above-the-market land price offered to affected people al the Jamuna Bridge site, he said land prices along side rivers were usually low i^i the country,as the erosion scared people always prefer to shift to distant places.
Rahman also pointed out
that the World Bank's resettlement conditions had triggered government's recent no' to a proposed credit for a water treatment plant in the capital.
-Resettlement policy has to lie country-specific it should consider socio political and geographical features of a country . of course, we support adequate compensation but not excessive compensation."
Economii Relations Division 1ERD) has organized the workshop as the Work! Bank
I donors have stepped up ssure on the borrowing lumcnis U»r providing maximum compensation to those affected by anv development projects.
The World Bank has de elded not to finance project* involving large settlement operations unless the govern hient concerned. adopts poll cie* and legal frameworks for resettlement with Income restoration.
Official* directly involved in land acquisition and resettle ment at the field level, aca demies. NGO* and donor rep resentativek are participating In the three-day workshop sixmsored by the JMBA autho rities and the World Bank.
While criticising the World Bank's high-cost guidelines for resettlement. Saifur Rahman also blasted past incidents of painful displacement of people without due compensation in the name of development.
"In the past, plights of af fected persons were not
looked into. It was a uncaring development, mindies* devel opment.” he said.
Referring to Monu irrigation project, the minister said many land owners were yet to get compensation even after 30 years.
Saying that land acquisition policy is "extremely Inoqui tious" in Bangladesh. Rahman said poor people had . often been driven out of their lands with meagre compensation for land acquisition
He cited land acquisition In Gulshan and Baridhara the cap Itai's outskirts now turned Into posh residential areas for the rich, and said: poor farmer* were driven out up to Nar-singdi with meagre compensation while some polltl clans, bureaucrats and bust nrswwn became millionaire* overnight."
Saifur Rahman also criticised some ministries and government departments for acquiring land far above the ac tual requirement
Outlining the World Bank policy of resettlement, the bank * resident mission chief. Flerre Lendel Mills, told the workshop although the latest land acquisition policy of the government matched the bank policy, land registration and compensation payment often faced delay
The visiting World.Bank Director for South Asia Pau) isenman. also spoke at the inaugural session ERD secretary Lufullahil Majid and Additional Secretary Mahbub Kabir were other speakers