Nabard sanctions Rs 348.63 crore to state under RIDF

The loan will be utilised for construction of 174 road projects and 33 bridge projects by the Public Works Department

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has sanctioned Rs 348.63 crore loan to the government of Karnataka under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF XIX).

The loan would be utilised for construction of 174 road projects and 33 bridge projects by the Public Works Department (Rs 152.60 crore), 24 rural road and three bridge projects by Tourism Department (Rs 65.68 crore), 127 Veterinary Institution projects by Animal  Husbandry Department (Rs 30.32  crore), 60 Raitha Sampark Kendras by Agriculture  Department (Rs 23.37 crore) and nine maternal and child hospital projects by Health Department (Rs 76.66 crore) among others across the state.

With these sanctions, the cumulative sanction to the state under the RIDF XIX has reached Rs 597.37 crore.

The assistance extended for construction of the 1,684.21 km of roads and 521.61 metres of rural bridge projects which will connect 1,302 villages with 414 marketing centres. The sanction of 127 veterinary institution buildings will help in improved milk production, improvement in animal health, reduction in mortality, breed improvement, increased income to farmers and availability of milk among others, Nabard said in a statement.

Similarly, the sanction of Maternal and Child Hospital projects is expected to help in reducing the infant mortality rate, maternal mortality rate and also increase institutional deliveries. The Raitha Sampark Kendras sanctioned to the state will create testing and certifying facilities to the farmers and  creation of infrastructure for marketing and information technology in rural areas.

The projects are expected to benefit 12.29 million rural populace in the state, creating non­recurring benefit of 10.32 million mandays and 954 jobs per year, Nabard statement added.