Kerala - Thrissur   

Call to drop move to take ADB loan

Staff Reporter

Activists' meet to work out common strategy

THRISSUR: Several activists groups from across the State met here on Sunday to work out a common strategy to demand cancellation of all proposals to take loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The meeting was jointly organised by the Thrissur-based Global Alternate Information Applications (GAIA) and Wayanad-based `Kabani' in the backdrop of the Annual Governors' Meeting (AGM) of the ADB to be held in Hyderabad from May 3 to 6. Speaking on the occasion, economist K. Raviraman of the Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Thiruvananthapuram, refuted the view that the benefits of availing of the ADB loan outweigh its evil consequences.

Terming such views as `fallacious', Prof. Raviraman said, ``one has to see the issue of ADB loan in a more `holistic' perspective.

Kerala's agriculture sector is already suffering from the negative terms of trade and, taking an international loan in such a context will worsen the situation.''

Writer C.R. Neelakandan criticised those who argue that there was nothing wrong in the five municipal corporations in the State availing of the ADB loan. ``The loan repayment burden will anyway fall on the common citizens through the imposition of user fees and increased taxes,'' Mr. Neelakandan said. The new Government should be forced to give up the ADB loan through intense public pressure, he said.

Pointing out that there were several sources of alternative financing, leader of the Indian Farmers' Movement (INFAM) M.C. George said: ``Banks in Kerala have surplus funds that can be put to productive use. But there is no political will to tap these resources.'' Gururaja Budhya of the Urban Research Centre in Karnataka said the urban development loan extended by the ADB to his State had undermined the importance of local bodies and eventually forced the municipalities to operate as mere service delivery systems.

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