When the country's left-wing parties and national/international organizations were opposing the Arun 3rd hydropower project to be built in Sankhuwasabha, an official of the main lender, the World Bank, also raised questions.

At the time of his retirement after working at the World Bank for 29 years, Martin Karkar, the head of the Bank's Population and Human Resources Department, made public his statement about Arun through an interview he gave to the international media Inter Press Service (IPS).

When the World Bank, Japan and the German government were discussing about providing a loan of 140 million US dollars, Martin responded that the Arun III hydropower project would not help to transform the living standards of the residents of the affected areas.

The Congress government under the leadership of then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala had introduced a policy of bringing in private sector investment in the construction of power projects. Accordingly, the loan was going to be invested. In the 1950s, only 9 percent of citizens in the country had access to electricity. The government estimated that the construction of Arun would double the electricity expansion.

The government claimed that the construction of Arun will meet the demand for electricity, facilitate the availability of energy for industrialization, help in the development of tourism and create jobs. The government planned to sell the electricity produced by Arun to India. But left-wing parties and NGOs were protesting that Arun was too expensive and would spoil the environment during construction.

In this background, Martin, a senior officer of the bank, said in an interview, "There should be a clean hearing about investing in Arun". I am not against electricity development in Nepal. However, the level of investment and natural risk for such a large project should never be forgotten.' He made his views public in line with the issue raised by Nepal's left-wing parties and NGOs. He also held the opinion that he would not be included in the construction process of the Arun project.

He also said that he will not work in the future while mentioning that he is responsible for the decisions made by the Human Resource Department in the past, which includes Nepal. He suggested that services such as education, family planning, and health should be prioritized in Nepal.

Lewis Preston, president of the World Bank, said in a conversation with IPS that there is enough discussion about Arun. He also claimed that he was not aware of Martin's resignation. At that time, there was support and opposition regarding the construction of the Arun project inside and outside the country. When interest groups, national/international NGOs and left-wing political parties stood up against Arun, a kind of confusion was created by the opinion held by the official of the main lender World Bank. 

Martin's opinion created more confusion when the debate about Arun was going on in the streets, houses and international forums. In connection with this context, the interview prepared by Pratap Chatterjee for the international media IPS was published by Kantipur Daily on October 21, 2051 under the title 'Resignation of the World Bank official in Arun III dispute'.