Rs 291-cr Nabard
aid to (Gujarat, Rajasthan)
To
improve water supplies and provide employment in drought-hit-areas the
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural development (Nabard) has sanctioned
Rs 290.96 crore to governments of Gujarat and Rajasthan to fund rural
development projects.
He said the relief projects
would help in improving the availability of water and at the same time
generate employment for people living in drought-affected villages.
YC Nanda, managing director,
Nabard said, Rs 146.70 crore has been sanctioned for relief projects
in Gujarat. The projects include rural roads in 18 districts and minor
irrigation works in seven districts. "These labour-intensive projects
are expected to generate nearly 271 lakh man-days of employment. They
will thus help state governments to fight the drought situation by creating
productive large-scale employment for the affected population in the
villages."
Similarly, "We have
sanctioned Rs 144.26 crore for providing relief work in 18 drought-affected
districts of Rajasthan for works which include roads, water harvesting
and also construction of schools".
The drought-affected states
loans were also sanctioned to projects in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab,
Jammu and Kashmir and Orissa for irrigation, drainage, flood control,
rural roads and bridges and rebuilding of cyclone-affected structures
in Orissa.
The finance minister, in
the Union Budget for 2000-01, had increased the contribution to the
Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) to Rs 4,500 crore from
Rs 3,500 crore in the previous year.
The budget had also reduced
the interest on RIDF loans by half-a-per cent. Nabard has already received
applications from its regional offices in the drought-affected areas
to take appropriate measures for rescheduling or conversion of loans.
These are being examined by Nabard.
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