NABARD sanctioned Rs 224 crore loan assistance to HP

Shimla, Apr 19 (UNI) The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) had sanctioned a loan assistance of Rs 224.75 crore to Himachal Pradesh for 261 projects under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) last year, an official spokesman today said.

This year's loan assistance is almost two times more than during 2004-05 when the Bank sanctioned a sum of Rs 91.64 crore to the state for 146 projects.

The spokesman said the bank had also disbursed Rs 125.09 crore under RIDF last year as compared to Rs 83.17 crore in 2004-05.

Cumulatively, since RIDF's inception in 1995-96, NABARD has sanctioned loan assistance of Rs 1,241.59 crore up to March 2006, while a sum of Rs 854.57 crore had already been disbursed to the state government.

He said 56.5 per cent of the sanctioned amount of Rs 710.78 crore was spent for the construction of roads and bridges, Rs 353.70 crore for irrigation, watershed and flood protection works and Rs 113.14 crore for drinking water supply schemes.

Refinance sanctioned to banks in the state for capital formation in agriculture and other rural development activities jumped by 44.60 per cent over 2004-06 to Rs 227.12 crore, he said.

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