Nabard sanctions Rs 400 cr

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has sanctioned Rs 399.22 crore under its Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) for the Indira Jala Prabha project to be implemented across 22 districts in the state.

The loan is sanctioned to provide irrigation facilities across 490,029 acres of land in 16,472 villages of the 22 districts. It includes drilling of 26,262 bore-wells, purchase of 25,278 pump-sets, electric motors, diesel engines and other irrigation work, benefiting 480,000 farmers in the state with recurring employment of 49,000 and nonrecurring employment of 250,000 man-days.

The project aims to provide an integrated and comprehensive livelihood options to SC & ST farmers. The total project cost is of Rs 875 crore, and the balance amount would come from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme, Nabard said in a release. The project would be implemented by the District Water Management Agency wing of the rural development department. Nabard has so far sanctioned Rs 1,116 crore to the state government during this financial year.