Nabard sanctions Rs 110.76 crore under RIDF

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has sanctioned Rs 110.76 crore to the Orissa government under the 16th tranche of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) for the implementation of 421 lift irrigation and 10 roads and bridge projects.

The amount was sanctioned by Nabard during its meeting held in New Delhi on January 31. Taking into account the latest amount, Nabard has sanctioned Rs 822 crore under the 16th tranche of RIDF during 2010-11.

The sanctioned amount will be used for construction of six rural roads with a length of 48 km and four bridges measuring 1200 metres. These projects will benefit five districts of the state, providing all-weather connectivity to around 361 villages.

The projects sanctioned under lift irrigation on completion, will benefit 19 districts and a total area of 8714 hectares will be irrigated. These projects are set to generate non-recurring employment of around 110 lakh mandays.

Since the inception of RIDF, Nabard's cumulative sanction to the state has been Rs 5418 crore under various sectors- irrigation, rural connectivity, animal husbandry, infrastructure development, rural market and drinking water supply system.

The sanctioned amount is for undertaking 947 projects in the roads and bridges segment, one drinking water supply system project, 1162 projects in the animal husbandry segment, 114304 projects in the irrigation sector, nine passenger jetties and 27 other projects.

Out of 116450 projects, 68144 projects have been completed (as on December 27, 2010).

Rural connectivity projects (roads- 24 per cent and bridges- 30 per cent) account for 54 per cent of the sanction and thus constitute the major component under RIDF.

Irrigation sector accounted for 44 per cent of total sanction under RIDF.

According to the State Focus paper for 2011-12 prepared by Nabard, the drawal by the state government during 2010-11 up to December 27, 2010 is Rs 287 crore.

The offtake of drawl during the current financial year needs to be increased to achieve the disbursement target, Nabard has pointed out.