The NABARD has sanctioned Rs 3.72 billion loan assistance under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) to Odisha towards irrigation and rural bridge projects for the last quarter of this financial year.
A total number of 17,322 lift irrigation projects including bore wells, shallow tube wells, digging wells, micro river lifts shall be taken up with Rs 1301.7 million from the assistance, the bank said in a release on Wednesday.
This will provide assured irrigation to about 36,440 hectares of agricultural land directly benefiting about 40,000 farmers of our state.
This apart, NABARD has also sanctioned 14 Rural Bridge Projects under Biju Setu Yojana with RIDF loan assistance of Rs 2423.4 million crore which would add 6222.89 metres of bridge length, benefiting about 4.56 lakh population in 322 villages of the state, it said.
The NABARD has provided financial assistance of Rs 10,000 crore to Odisha by the end of the third quarter of the current financial year. During the previous financial year, the total assistance was Rs 14,715 crore, officials said.
Since the inception of RIDF in 1995-96, NABARD has sanctioned cumulative financial assistance of about Rs 19,950 crore to Odisha resulting in the implementation of about 2.24 lakh projects, a bank official said.