ADB’s 50 years greeted with mass protest at Bhubaneswar, Odisha

Bhubaneswar: “From where the poor vendor will pay a penalty of Rs. 500 for selling their goods when they are there to sell goods worth less than 500 every day to early their daily bread the protesters asks referring to the steps being taken by the local governments to implement Smart City and other city ‘beautification’ projects, which are being financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other International Financial Institutions (IFIs).

In Odisha under the joint collaboration of Indian Social Action Forum(INSAF), All India People’s Forum(AIPF), Lokshakti Abhijan, Bhumi Adhikar Andolan and National Hawkers Federation a mass protest has been organised at Lower PMG, Bhubaneswar on 6th May.
Thousands of people who have gathered in many places of India during this week to commemorate the 50 years of ADB. The people are raising issues related to the lack of transparency and accountability, and the impunity enjoyed by these institutions. These events are being organised parallels to the official ADB anniversary celebrations coinciding their annual meetings held currently at the Yokohama, Japan.

These programmes are being held by the organisations and mass-movements like National Hawkers Federation, National Fish workers Federation, National Alliance for People’s Movements, Indian Social Action Forum, Environment Support Group, Delhi Solidarity Group, Bargi Dam Displaced and Affected Association, Jharkhand Mines and Area Coordination Committee, Chhatisgarh Nagarik Manch, Machimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan and many others across the country..

The protest programmes were organised in West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Jaipur, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, and many other states. These programmes, coordinated by the Peoples’ Forum Against ADB, are part of the over 120 actions of resistance being organised, on the current week i.e. May 1 – 7, 2017, across 21 states of the country to highlight the gross human rights violations, loss of livelihood, and environmental destructions caused by the ‘development model’ being pushed by ADB and other international financial institutions (IFIs).

The various persons from different mass organisations of Odisha like Narendra Mohanty, Prafulla Samantara, Suresh Panigrahi, Jayant Das, Mahendra Parida, Kalyan Anand, Amiya Pandab, Nitu Chakia, Pradipta Nayak, Lingaraj,Dr. Sricharan, Biswapriya Kanungo, Srimant Mohanty, Radhakant Sethi, Simanchal Nahak, Tapan Padhi, Pradeep Sahu, Bansidhar Parida, Rajnarayan Dalua, Sandeep Pattnayak, Chitta Barik, Soumen Ray, Bansidhar Parida, Manohar Chouhan ,Biswanath Patra and others took the leadership of the protest.

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