Bhubaneswar: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has disbursed Rs 31,786 crore in Odisha during the financial year 2021-22, registering a growth of 40 per cent over the preceding financial year 2020-21.
Fresh RIDF assistance of Rs 4,013 crore was sanctioned for the construction of 243 new rural roads, 263 bridges, one medium irrigation project, 9,836 minor irrigation projects, six flood protection and nine rural drinking water projects in the state during 2021-22 financial year, NABARD chairman-cum general manager C. Udayabhaskar said in a statement on Friday.
The RIDF sanction for Odisha in 2021-22 was 24 per cent more compared to 2020-21 and the highest in the country. The drinking water projects are expected to provide clean and safe drinking water to 17 lakh rural population across the state.
NABARD also extended grant assistance of Rs 70 crore to support various promotional initiatives during this period.
Further, it is currently implementing 69 tribal development projects supporting horticulture-based livelihoods on 46,000 acres benefitting more than 50,000 tribal families in 24 districts of Odisha.
Udayabhaskar further said that six new WADI projects and five new watershed projects at an estimated cost of Rs 53.88 crore were sanctioned in In 2021-22.
So far, NABARD has promoted 325 FPOs, which are benefitting about 1.30 lakh farmers. To give a fillip to the movement in the state, it also conducted a month-long campaign called FPO Abhiyan.
Grant support of Rs 34.14 crore was provided to banks from the financial inclusion fund to expand the banking touchpoints in rural areas and for creating awareness on financial inclusion.
To enhance the credit flow to agriculture and other rural sectors, it has a projected potential of Rs 1,34,665 crore for priority sector lending by banks in the current financial year 2022-23, including Rs 52,050 crore under agriculture.
