NABARD sanctions Rs 278.64 cr to Gujarat

Ahmedabad, Sept 21: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned Rs 278.64 crore to the Gujarat government for rural infrastructure projects.

NABARD Chief General Manager B S Shekhawat said the amount has been sanctioned from its Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) XIII to implement the project for development of distribution system of Narmada Canal, a major irrigation project by Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam for Rs 418.06 crore.

This project will create irrigation facility for about 2.04 lakh hectare benefiting 422 villages in six districts -- Kheda, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surendranagar, Mehsana and Anand, Mr Shekhawat said.

The other project includes 232 rural road projects in 23 districts of Gujarat by Roads and Building Department costing Rs 110.58 crore.

It involves improvement of the existing roads joining two villages and having a population of more than 1,000 people. Total road length of 804.55 km will be improved benefiting 461 villages spanning over 23 districts of the state.

With this, the cumulative sanction of assistance to Gujarat by NABARD under RIDF I to XIII has gone up to Rs 5,960.30 crore involving 31,838 projects. The state has utilised an amount of Rs 3,816.27 crore so far, Mr Shekhawat added.

UNI