This refers to “Double trouble in single windows” (Swot, October 11). The proposed National Investment Board (NIB) is a new political and physical animal that will prowl over the central secretariat with its own secretariat to fast-track mega-projects. Some genuine apprehensions arise: What are individual ministers, cabinet committees, EGoMs, GoMs and the Planning Commission for? The cabinet system of governance is given the go-by, and friction between ministers and civil servants and this new omnipresent, omnipotent body will arise. Jayanthi Natarajan has raised valid points opposing the NIB. A 2003 European study of mega-projects observes: “Project promoters avoid and violate established practices of good governance, transparency and participation in political and administrative decision making…”. Project costs are underplayed, revenue projections overestimated and environmental concerns ignored, and the single window that is being advocated will quietly ensure all these in the name of accelerated development. The Deepak Parekh Committee emphasised the role of cabinet committees in infrastructure development. No doubt people want projects but not at the cost of all essential elements of mega-project decision-making. In this context, recall what Arignar C N Annadurai, the erudite leader of the DMK, said when C Subramaniam was appointed steel minister in the fifties. He said Tamil Nadu wants steel projects but were given a steel minister instead. In a similar vein, our countrymen would now say they want good projects, fulfiling all the essential elements that go with them, and not the NIB, which will only rush through projects with half-baked examination of environmental implications and cost and revenue analyses.
S Subramanyan, Mumbai
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