Social activists Medha Patkar, Ulka Mahajan, economist Arun Kumar hits out at AIIB during the 3-day convention in Mumbai

MUMBAI: Over 150 organisations from across the country today began a 3-day convention on infrastructure financing with a view to drawing the government's attention in the run-up to the annual meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

The AIIB's annual meeting will be held in Mumbai on June 25-26 where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the meeting.

Focus of the 3rd Annual Meeting of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) would be on “Mobilizing Finance for Infrastructure: Innovation and Collaboration”. The Prime Minister of India, Shri @narendramodi would be addressing the Opening Session on 26th June, 2018 in Mumbai. pic.twitter.com/p6yAtG8uIv

— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) June 21, 2018

The convention, held under the aegis of the Working Group on International Financial Institutions here, was addressed by social activists Medha Patkar and Ulka Mahajan, economist Arun Kumar and journalist Sucheta Dalal.

Hitting out at the AIIB, Patkar said, "Though AIIB aims to push infrastructure in Asia including India, they have nothing to do with improving the social and economic status of the poor people of the country."

She alleged that while Rs 9,800 crore would be invested in infrastructure in the fields of energy, roads and urban development, the common man was missing from their (AIIB) roadmap.

She said that such infrastructure development was taking care of the affluent while ignoring the marginalised.

Mahajan said that the government's design of executing big-ticket projects was questionable and alleged that several laws pertaining to labour and environment were being twisted.

She said that those who had gathered at the convention wanted to create a pressure group to force economic policy-makers to take note of their concerns.

Noted journalist Sucheta Dalal hit out at what she claimed was the faulty system of banks and asked the government to take steps to ensure common people are not fleeced.

"Until and unless the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and other banks do not become responsible to the common man, no scheme to empower them will work out," Dalal said.

Headquartered in Beijing, the AIIB is a multilateral development bank of which India is the second largest shareholder.