Nabard sanctions Rs 1023 crore for farming and rural infrastructure development
The new NDA governments promise of rural infrastructure and affordable housing seems to move on a positive trend after the Union Budget 2014-15. The latest move in this regard is the sanctioning of Rs 1,023.73 crore for Orissa, by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard). Nabard has made this from its rural infrastructure development fund (RIDF), a fund for the completion of ongoing projects and for initiating new rural infrastructure projects for the financial year 2014-15.
The sanctioning of Rs 1,023.73 crore is meant for initiation and completion of developments like 18 rural roads, 11 rural bridges, 61 irrigation and flood-protection projects, 783 lift irrigation projects (tubewell and river lift) and 170.51kms of additional road. An amount of Rs 254.60 crore out of this is earmarked for 9,593 micro river lift and shallow tubewell projects, as per the official reports.
Nabard has so far sanctioned Rs 10,367 crore in the state for 1.91 lakh projects under various sectors like irrigation, rural connectivity, animal husbandry infrastructure development, jetties/ passenger waiting halls for inland waterway transport and rural drinking water supply system.
The Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) from Nabard was was instituted in in 1995 with the sole objective of providing low cost fund assistance for State Governments and State Owned Corporations for development and completion of projects relating to farming and rural infrastructure, to over the lack of public investment agriculture and rural development. Investment is agriculture infrastructure development is one of the most neglected sectors in the country. And for this same reason, the many rural infrastructure projects, which have been started in various parts of the country, are lying incomplete, deterring the potential income and employment to lakhs f rural population in India.
Investment, irrigation projects, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, Rural Infrastructure Development Fund, union budget 2014-15
