Finance Minister Shashi Bhusan Behera on Wednesday commended the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) for its support for implementation of watershed and wadi development projects and for carrying out a massive campaign for water conservation in the State.
Speaking at a function held here to celebrate the 36th foundation day of the Nabard, Behera expressed his gratitude to the organisation for providing resources for creation of various infrastructures in the State.
Under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), the Nabard has sanctioned Rs 17,835 crore and disbursed Rs 12,325 crore to the State Government for implementation of over 2 lakh projects in rural connectivity like roads, bridges, irrigation, agriculture and allied sectors, the Minister said.
Nabard CGM Dr KC Panigrahi highlighted major achievements of the organisation and apprised about the initiatives taken for providing credit support and implementing various developmental and promotional programmes in the State.
The Nabard has extended a total credit support of over Rs 14,715 crore of which it has provided Rs 9,630 crore to the banks, enabling them to provide concessional short term as well as long term loans to over three million farmers in the State, Panigrahi added.
SBI CGM B Venu Gopala Reddy appreciated the success of the organisation in the contribution to development of rural infrastructure and growth in agricultural credit in the State and assured that the SBI would remain to be associated with the Nabard in implementation of rural development projects.
On the occasion a magazine “NABARD in Odisha 2016-17” was released and awards were given to the best-performing SHGs, JlGs, Farmers’ Clubs, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), NGOs and banks.