Hyderabad: On May 27, the WB received another communication from a large group of farmers in support of the request for an inspection. After receiving this request, the Bank’s panel conducted initial due diligence and verified that the request meets the admissibility criteria for registration of the case. Earlier, as part of due diligence, the World Bank panel met with the CRDA administration on May 24 to obtain information and seek clarifications.

CRDA explained the voluntary nature of the land pooling scheme and added that the first sub-project concerning 10 roads, constituting 30 per cent of the total project financing, is under preparation and a resettlement action plan will be prepared for 400 families that will be affected by these roads. The CRDA also stated that about 150 people participated in the consultation meeting on the safeguard documents and that several comments, particularly about the land pooling scheme, were received electronically.

The World Bank said that the panel’s registration of the complaint implies no judgement whatsoever concerning the merits of a request for inspection. It said that the bank management must provide the panel a response to the issues raised in the request for inspection within 21 business days (by July 13).