Bhubaneswar: Odisha has topped the list at national level in Nabard Rural Infrastructure Development Fund ( RIDF) performance in 2017-18.
At a high-level meeting chaired by development commissioner R. Balakrishnan, here on Thursday, the Nabard general manager Dr.Krushna Chandra Panigrahi disclosed this achievement of the state.
Nabard has disbursed around Rs.2512 crore to state government from RIDF against the claims made by various departments during the year 2017-18 which is highest among all the states at national level. As per the figures presented by Nabard, Odisha tops the list with Rs.2512.36 crore disbursement followed by Gujarat with Rs.2062.91 crore and Rajasthan with Rs1851.39 crore disbursement.
During the year 2017-18, a total number of 14,455 projects estimated around Rs.5514 crore were recommended under RIDF against which 2351 projects of worth Rs.2539 crore were sanctioned. Against this sanctioned amount of around 2539 crore, different departments utilized around Rs 3872 crore during the year 2017-18 from state government budgeted funds. The actual utilization of fund is being reimbursed by the Narbad.
Presently, the infrastructure development projects under RIDF are being implanted through the departments of agriculture & farmers’ empowerment (1485 nos), water resources ( 671 nos.), panchayati raj & drinking water (175 nos), works ( 6 nos) and rural development making a total of 2351 number of projects. So far around 60% of the projects under RIDF have been completed and balance projects are in progress.
The development commissioner directed various departments to expedite raising of their claims to Nabard against the ongoing projects. He further directed to expedite submission of the DPRs of the spillover and newly sanctioned projects.
The meeting recommended another 14,346 projects estimated around Rs 10,328 crore for the year 2018-19.
Available data show that RIDF is being implemented for completion of the ongoing and incomplete infrastructure development projects in the State. The Fund is being supported by RIDF corpus managed by Nabard and state government’s own contribution in almost 85:15 share basis.
The Nabard deputy chief general manager, Narayan Chandra Pani, apprised that Nabard, Bhubaneswar, has been adorned with Best Performance Award for the year 2017-18 for diversified project lending in which RIDF is a major component.
Principal secretary general administration Ashok Kumar Meena, principal secretary water resources Pardeep Kumar Jena, principal secretary agriculture Sourav Garg, principal secretary commerce & transport G. Srinivas, secretary fisheries and animal resource deevelopment Vishal Gagan, additional secretary panchayati raj Roopa Mishra, additional secretary planning & convergence Debendra Kumar Jena along with senior officers from Nabard and concerned departments participated in discussions.
