Lie nailed! In complete contrast to vehement claims of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, World Bank has seemingly put the controversial Rs. 750 crore Jammu and Kashmir Participatory Watershed Management (PWMP) in cold storage and approved Rs. 1500 crore project rural roads project for funding after removing objectionable Jammu and Kashmir state from the project.
Official documents reveal that negotiations over much hyped PWMP project have been scheduled by World Bank for September 23, 2014 i.e. four years from today. Moreover, negotiations would take place at a time when the present Omar Abdullah led government would be preparing for elections. Besides, the present Project Director of PWMP Irshad Ahmed Khan would have retired by then.
Khan, a penalized IFS officer despite making best possible efforts has failed to convince World Bank to fund Rs. 750 crore project for Jammu and Kashmir, asserted sources. They added that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah did plead with both Prime Minister and Union Finance Minister to get the project approved for funding for Jammu and Kashmir but to avail.
Things have seemingly not moved an inch from where they were. It needs to be reiterated that world bank had put a freeze on world Bank aided developmental programmes for Jammu and Kashmir amounting to Rs.2250 crore for want of Pakistan’s no objection certificate for their execution and India’s inability to certify that the projects are not detrimental to Pakistan’s interest.
Omar Abdullah had specifically approached central government regarding Participatory Watershed Management Programme (PWMP) for which World Bank had committed allocation of Rs.750 crore. Earlier also, a Rs.1500 crore project for rural roads identified for some Indian states had got stuck when Jammu and Kashmir was drafted as part of project at a later stage due to similar reasons.
However, government of India redrafted the proposal, excluded Jammu and Kashmir it and got Rs. 1500 crore rural roads project approved for funding. Unaware, J&K govt did not even lodge a meek protest for the exclusion of country’s worst connected state from the Project. Ironically, instead of getting the bottleneck removed, government of India gave in to the Pak refusal to negotiate the project.
According to operational policy 7.60 of World Bank, ‘Projects in disputed areas’ are to be cleared and financed only under set of agreed terms and conditions to which both India and Pakistan as executive members are signatories. Kashmir dispute being internationally recognised falls in the above category. For this reason, World Bank withheld its allocation until specified pre-conditions were fulfilled.
These are that the projects to be funded by the World Bank ‘in disputed Jammu and Kashmir’ are not detrimental to Pakistan’s interest and that Pakistan has ‘no objection’ in this regard. Chief minister after detailed discussion with state officials had urged the central government to take up the issue with executive directors of World Bank and get the allocation released at the earliest.
Sources said that union finance ministry is yet to take up the issue with World Bank for resolution. They added that even after Forest minister Mian Altaf along with four MPs of Jammu and Kashmir met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee recently in New Delhi and pleaded with him to take up the issue with World Bank, finance ministry has not approached the bank formally for settlement.
Interestingly, World Bank had raised the disclaimer issue in 2009 after assessment of the project which was then at the funding stage. Sources affirmed that if the centre would be pursued the matter vigorously, the World Bank could be convinced to give up the disclaimer condition. They would give up disclaimer once government of India takes up the issue with World Bank and manages to convince them over objections raised by them.
After discussing nature of dispute, policy affirms that bank would consider the proposal if is satisfied that “either (1) the other claimants to the disputed area (which is Pakistan in J&K and India, in Pak administered Kashmir) have no objection to the project; or the project is not harmful to the interest of other claimants, or (ii) that a conflicting claim has not won international recognition or been actively pursued.
Intriguingly, even while issuing clarification after issue of PWMP funding snowballed over the disclaimer issued by it, World Bank (WB) officials desisted from spelling out operational policy in toto and preferred avoiding further controversy over the issue.
Rs. 740 crore J&K Participatory Watershed Management Project ( PWMP), covering an area of 4,32,919 hectares of forest area in all the three regions of the state- Ladakh, Kashmir Valley and Jammu region includes 11 areas namely Sukhnag (Khan Sahib), Budgam, Jhelum Sheeri, Lidder, Sindh (Kangan) Kahmil ( Ramal Nagri) in the Valley; Kuntewala in Doda, Tawi, Manawar Tawi Buddhal in Jammu region and, Indus in Leh and Suru in Kargil- were to be covered under this project.
Earlier, World Bank had funded two schemes of this project- Rs 90 crore from 1990 to 1999 and Rs 198 crore from 1999- 2005 under the Integrated Watershed Development Programme. It is ironical to note sudden change in the attitude of the World Bank. More shockingly because team of World Bank (WB) headed by its industry policy expert Norman Piccioni had visited the state from May 5 to 12, 2008, and assessed feasibility of project. World Bank was to finance 80 percent of the project and the state government 17 percent.
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Official documents reveal that negotiations over much hyped PWMP project have been scheduled by World Bank for September 23, 2014 i.e. four years from today. Moreover, negotiations would take place at a time when the present Omar Abdullah led government would be preparing for elections. Besides, the present Project Director of PWMP Irshad Ahmed Khan would have retired by then.
Khan, a penalized IFS officer despite making best possible efforts has failed to convince World Bank to fund Rs. 750 crore project for Jammu and Kashmir, asserted sources. They added that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah did plead with both Prime Minister and Union Finance Minister to get the project approved for funding for Jammu and Kashmir but to avail.
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Things have seemingly not moved an inch from where they were. It needs to be reiterated that world bank had put a freeze on world Bank aided developmental programmes for Jammu and Kashmir amounting to Rs.2250 crore for want of Pakistan’s no objection certificate for their execution and India’s inability to certify that the projects are not detrimental to Pakistan’s interest.
Omar Abdullah had specifically approached central government regarding Participatory Watershed Management Programme (PWMP) for which World Bank had committed allocation of Rs.750 crore. Earlier also, a Rs.1500 crore project for rural roads identified for some Indian states had got stuck when Jammu and Kashmir was drafted as part of project at a later stage due to similar reasons.
However, government of India redrafted the proposal, excluded Jammu and Kashmir it and got Rs. 1500 crore rural roads project approved for funding. Unaware, J&K govt did not even lodge a meek protest for the exclusion of country’s worst connected state from the Project. Ironically, instead of getting the bottleneck removed, government of India gave in to the Pak refusal to negotiate the project.
According to operational policy 7.60 of World Bank, ‘Projects in disputed areas’ are to be cleared and financed only under set of agreed terms and conditions to which both India and Pakistan as executive members are signatories. Kashmir dispute being internationally recognised falls in the above category. For this reason, World Bank withheld its allocation until specified pre-conditions were fulfilled.
These are that the projects to be funded by the World Bank ‘in disputed Jammu and Kashmir’ are not detrimental to Pakistan’s interest and that Pakistan has ‘no objection’ in this regard. Chief minister after detailed discussion with state officials had urged the central government to take up the issue with executive directors of World Bank and get the allocation released at the earliest.
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Sources said that union finance ministry is yet to take up the issue with World Bank for resolution. They added that even after Forest minister Mian Altaf along with four MPs of Jammu and Kashmir met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee recently in New Delhi and pleaded with him to take up the issue with World Bank, finance ministry has not approached the bank formally for settlement.
Interestingly, World Bank had raised the disclaimer issue in 2009 after assessment of the project which was then at the funding stage. Sources affirmed that if the centre would be pursued the matter vigorously, the World Bank could be convinced to give up the disclaimer condition. They would give up disclaimer once government of India takes up the issue with World Bank and manages to convince them over objections raised by them.
After discussing nature of dispute, policy affirms that bank would consider the proposal if is satisfied that “either (1) the other claimants to the disputed area (which is Pakistan in J&K and India, in Pak administered Kashmir) have no objection to the project; or the project is not harmful to the interest of other claimants, or (ii) that a conflicting claim has not won international recognition or been actively pursued.
Intriguingly, even while issuing clarification after issue of PWMP funding snowballed over the disclaimer issued by it, World Bank (WB) officials desisted from spelling out operational policy in toto and preferred avoiding further controversy over the issue.
Rs. 740 crore J&K Participatory Watershed Management Project ( PWMP), covering an area of 4,32,919 hectares of forest area in all the three regions of the state- Ladakh, Kashmir Valley and Jammu region includes 11 areas namely Sukhnag (Khan Sahib), Budgam, Jhelum Sheeri, Lidder, Sindh (Kangan) Kahmil ( Ramal Nagri) in the Valley; Kuntewala in Doda, Tawi, Manawar Tawi Buddhal in Jammu region and, Indus in Leh and Suru in Kargil- were to be covered under this project.
Earlier, World Bank had funded two schemes of this project- Rs 90 crore from 1990 to 1999 and Rs 198 crore from 1999- 2005 under the Integrated Watershed Development Programme. It is ironical to note sudden change in the attitude of the World Bank. More shockingly because team of World Bank (WB) headed by its industry policy expert Norman Piccioni had visited the state from May 5 to 12, 2008, and assessed feasibility of project. World Bank was to finance 80 percent of the project and the state government 17 percent.
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