{"id":139089,"date":"2025-06-04T22:08:54","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T16:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/assamtimespost.in\/?p=139089"},"modified":"2025-06-04T22:08:54","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T16:38:54","slug":"adb-withdraws-434-million-loan-for-karbi-anglong-solar-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/assamtimespost.in\/?p=139089","title":{"rendered":"ADB Withdraws $434 Million Loan for Karbi Anglong Solar Project:"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-137216\" src=\"https:\/\/assamtimespost.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/New-Logo-Smal-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"55\" title=\"\"><\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-size: 14pt\"><a href=\"http:\/\/The Asian Development Bank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong><span style=\"color: #800000\">The Asian Development Bank<\/span><\/strong><\/a> (ADB) has cancelled a proposed $434 million loan to the Government of Assam for the Karbi Anglong solar power project, following widespread protests and concerns about displacement, land rights, and environmental impact.<\/span><\/h4>\n<figure id=\"attachment_139090\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-139090\" style=\"width: 742px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/ADB Withdraws $434 Million Loan for Karbi Anglong Solar Project:\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-139090 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/assamtimespost.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG-20250604-WA0086.jpg\" alt=\"ADB Withdraws $434 Million Loan \" width=\"742\" height=\"413\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assamtimespost.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG-20250604-WA0086.jpg 742w, https:\/\/assamtimespost.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG-20250604-WA0086-300x167.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 742px) 100vw, 742px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-139090\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>ADB Withdraws $434 Million Loan for Karbi Anglong Solar Project:<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt\"> The announcement was made on Wednesday during a press conference at the Guwahati Press Club by representatives from the Joint Land Struggles Committee, Assam, and the Karbi Anglong Solar Power Project Affected People\u2019s Rights Committee, the two groups leading the opposition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt\">Protest leaders indicated that the ADB withdrew its support after receiving photographic evidence and drone footage during a meeting in Milan, Italy, which contradicted claims made by the state government regarding the project site. Santanu Borthakur, an advocate at the Gauhati High Court, stated, <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt\">\u201cThe government told ADB that the area was barren and sparsely populated, with only 1,000\u20131,400 people facing eviction. In reality, nearly 20,000 people-indigenous Karbis, Rengma Nagas, Nepalis, Assamese, and Adivasis-were at risk of displacement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt\">Additionally, activist Pranab Doley highlighted that the proposed project site is part of an elephant corridor, raising significant ecological concerns that were communicated to the ADB. Although the state government had promised development and job creation through the solar initiative, skepticism remains among the protesters.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt\"> Bikram Hanse from the People\u2019s Rights Committee noted, \u201cThere are already departments under the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) responsible for local employment. But in previous appointments, only 62 out of 1,345 posts were given to tribal individuals. The claim of job creation is a smokescreen-they\u2019re trying to grab our land through the back door.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt\">Doley also warned of the long-term financial implications if the loan had been approved. \u201cThe project would not only have devastated the environment and displaced thousands, but it would also have burdened future generations with debt,\u201d he stated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt\"> The groups have accused KAAC Chief Executive Member Tuliram Ronghang of violating the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution by allocating tribal land to an external entity, advocating instead for sustainable development that respects indigenous rights.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt\">\u201cWe are not against development-we are against destruction,\u201d Doley said, urging the government to reconsider its approach to growth and investment in tribal regions. The government has yet to respond to these developments.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has cancelled a proposed $434 million loan to the Government of Assam for the Karbi Anglong solar power project, following widespread protests and concerns about displacement, land rights, and environmental impact. The announcement was made on Wednesday during a press conference at the Guwahati Press Club by representatives from the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":139090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","jnews_video_option_group":[[]],"override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"bottom","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"2","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-715","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":"News Desk:"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[47115,47116],"class_list":["post-139089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-karbi-anglong","tag-adb-withdraws-434-million","tag-loan-for-karbi-anglong-solar-project"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/assamtimespost.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/assamtimespost.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/assamtimespost.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assamtimespost.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assamtimespost.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=139089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/assamtimespost.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assamtimespost.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/139090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/assamtimespost.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=139089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assamtimespost.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=139089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assamtimespost.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=139089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}