India - Green National Highways Corridor Project : Indigenous Peoples Plan - Tribal Development Plan for NH516E Package 4-5 Paderu-Araku Section (English)

The objective of the Green National Highways Corridor Project for India is to enhance the institutional capacity of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in improving transport connectivity through adopting green and climate resilient construction methods for the National Highway network and implement    The objective of the Green National Highways Corridor Project for India is to enhance the institutional capacity of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in improving transport connectivity through adopting green and climate resilient construction methods for the National Highway network and implementing them in pilot sections of the Network. Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: the project affected villages were identified with the help of project design document and preliminary discussions were held with the scheduled tribe village headmen/representatives in all the affected villages. During preliminary consultation, brief of the proposed road project design, timeline, with emphasis on project's potential benefits; identified affected villages with adverse impacts on scheduled tribes; purpose of the TDP study, including field survey method for data collection, interview with heads of sample households, importance of conducting focus group discussions with small groups separately with women and vulnerable people were explained. The objective of these preliminary discussions was to discuss with the schedule tribe people on the project impacts in a free manner taking them into confidence and so that they can express their opinion, concerns and issues related to the project in an informed way. All the consultations were conducted before actual project is implemented. The affected scheduled tribe families were surveyed, and data were collected from interview with the head of the households, and where possible women head of the households were also given priority to respond. Along with household survey and key informant interview, field observation was carried out by the surveyors, which is an important tool to obtain insights into socio-cultural life, major concerns and issues faced by the scheduled tribes. Indigenous people receive culturally appropriate social and economic benefits and do not suffer adverse impacts as a result of implementation of the subproject. Indigenous people are encouraged to participate actively in design, preparation, and implementation of subproject and deciding on mitigation measures to address any adverse impact. Institutional arrangements including grievance redress mechanism, monitoring and evaluation process are clearly specified to address indigenous people's issues.