Nabard Sanctions Rs 65.18 Crore Loan For Mp Dam Project

The National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (Nabarad), under its Rural Infrastructure Development Fund-VII, has sanctioned Rs 65.18 crore as loan to Madhya Pradesh. With this, the total allocation for the state has crossed Rs 145.18 crore. Nabard sanctioned the loan at a meeting of its project sanctioning committee in Mumbai on Saturday.

According to sources, Madhya Pradesh would get Rs 65.18 crore for canal network lining at its Rani Avanti Bai Sagar Dam. The proposal was submitted by Narmada Valley Development Corporation last month.

State chief minister Digvijay Singh, at a meeting with Nabard chairman Y C Nanda recently, had sought an additional amount under RIDF-VII for power grid system upgradation and mini-hydel power projects.

With the sanction of this loan, the bank has sanctioned Rs 145.18 crore for Madhya Pradesh under RIDF-VII. This is out of the total allocation target of Rs 305 crore. The bank has already sanctioned Rs 80 crore under RIDF-VII. "We can go beyond the target if more proposals come from the state government," S M Sheokand, chief general manager Nabard, said.

The bank, according to sources, is also preparing an appraisal for yet another hydel power project of 10 mw capacity at the Avanti Bai Sagar Dam next week. The bank normally sanctions loans for irrigation, rural road and bridge projects and other similar rural infrastructure projects.

Nabard also plans to diversify its activities under RIDF. The Madhya Pradesh government has plans to set up more mini hydel projects to ensure supply in rural areas. The bank has also sanctioned a fund for drinking water project in Chhattisgarh. According to sources, the sanctioned amount is part of the total loans aggregating Rs 188.90 crore to six states.

While Madhya Pradesh would get Rs 65.18 crore, Karnataka and Gujarat would get Rs 53.56 crore and Rs 40.90 crore respectively. The other three states are Haryana (Rs 19.05 crore), Kerala (Rs 9.46 crore) and Nagaland (Rs 95 lakh). With this, the cumulative amount sanctioned to 19 states has touched Rs 1,905.40 crore out of a total corpus of Rs 5,000 crore.