Rs 3849 cr proposal to Nabard under RIDF

The high-powered committee of the Orissa government has presented Rs 3849.18 crore proposal to National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (Nabard) under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) for 2011-12.

This was informed by minister for planning & coordination A U Singhdeo in the state assembly.

The state high powered committee had submitted a total proposal of Rs 5921.56 crore to Nabard under RIDF in three financial years- 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11, the minister said.

It may be mentioned that Nabard had recently sanctioned Rs 60.08 crore to the Orissa government under the 17th tranche of RIDF for 2011-12.

The sanctioned amount is meant for implementation of four rural roads, two rural bridges and system improvement of three existing irrigation projects.

These projects will be implemented over a period of next 2-3 years and on completion, they will benefit people of five districts. The newly sanctioned four rural roads of 67.18 km and two bridges measuring 198 metres will provide all-weather connectivity to around 232 villages.

Taking into account the current sanction of Rs 60.08 crore, Nabard's cumulative sanction of RIDF assistance to the Orissa government has gone up to Rs 6509.88 crore for 131668 projects in various sectors including irrigation, rural connectivity, animal husbandry, infrastructure development and rural market since inception of RIDF.

Orissa's record of spending RIDF funds has been quite lacklustre. Of the Rs 1081 crore disbursed by Nabard under RIDF to the state between 2004-05 and 2010-11, the spending has been only Rs 323 crore till now.

It may be noted that out of over 14000 projects supposed to be executed in the state under RIDF, only 6000 odd projects have been commissioned. The departments implementing RIDF projects include rural development, works, water resources and fisheries and animal resources development to name a few.

Nabard had recently expressed its deep concern over the inordinate delay in the implementation and expenditure of projects in the state funded by it under RIDF.

Venting its discontent over the sluggish pace of project execution, Nabard had categorically stated that the extended project period of RIDF-XI will be terminated with effect from December 31 this year and that of RIDF-XII to XIV from March 31, 2012.