HYDERABAD: People's Forum Against ADB (Asian Development Bank), encompassing 97 social movements, civil society and struggle groups across Asia on Tuesday joined issue with the Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram over his statement that there were no conditions attached to ADB loans.

Addressing a press conference on eve of the ADB's annual meet here, the Forum coordinator, Souparna Lahiri and Shalmali Guttal of Focus on the Global South- India, cited the example of ADB-aided Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project, to drive home their point that the Bank indeed had built- in conditions in all its portfolios.

Under the project, the Kerala Government was required to implement plinth area based tax and formulate a policy on conversion of standposts (for drinking water supply) to individual metered house service connections or to metering standposts. The ADB went on to dictate that all municipal corporations pass a resolution to introduce service tax and/or revenue mobilization measures to meet shortfall of revenues needed to fund operation and maintenance of expanded water supply.

`Contention wrong'

The Finance Minister's contention about misapprehensions regarding conditionalities was wrong. His statement that the Government would listen to dissenting views but not change its policies or stop doing business with ADB proves what civil societies have been saying. "We would like to remind the Minister that in a democracy, public policy must be based on the will of the people," Mr. Lahiri said.

The Forum has lined up a series of programmes including protest rallies and parallel sessions during the four-day ADB meet.

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