Odisha Gets Highest Loan Assistance Of Rs 4013 Cr For Critical Rural Infra Development

Bhubaneswar: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned loan assistance of Rs 4013 crore, the highest for a state, under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF).

It includes Rs 2568 crore for roads and bridges, Rs 840 crore for piped water supply, Rs 605 crore for agriculture allied and irrigation and Rs 32100 cr for cumulative RIDF.

According to an official release, the trust is on rural connectivity and the Rs 2568 crore is around 64 per cent of the total amount sanctioned for the state. These projects, which would include creating/upgrading the road and bridge length of 2000 km and 17.13 km respectively, are expected to benefit more than 10 lakh people.

Nine Mega Piped Water Supply Projects will be taken up with the sanctioned amount to ensure clean, treated and safe drinking water at the doorsteps of 17 lakh rural population across the state.

Kusumi irrigation project, livestock vaccine production unit at OBPI (Berhampur), cluster lift irrigation projects under BKVY and Jalanidhi Scheme, and flood protection projects will be taken up with the Rs 605 crore sanction under this category.

This sanction is on the line of priority fixed by the State Government for developing critical rural infrastructure for drinking water supply, irrigation and rural connectivity, the release added.

With this sanction, the total cumulative sanction under RIDF to the state has crossed Rs. 32,100 crore.

Notably, Odisha had received Rs 951 crore loan assistance in January this year for construction of 176 road projects.