Uttarakhand to ask for Rs.500 cr loan from NABARD

Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Harish Rawat, has asked the state officials to draft a proposal for acquiring a loan of Rs.500 crore from NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development). The loan is to be taken for developing roads in rural areas and requesting for additional credit for the state’s drinking water supply initiatives.

The order for the proposal came right after D N Magar, Chief Managing Director of NABARD visited the Chief Minister, an official release said on Wednesday.

NABARD is considered a ‘partner in development’, by the Uttarakhand government. The Chief Minister said that they can work in coordination in building and conserving water reservoirs and in planting trees in order to tackle the impact of climate change.

Rawat said that the impact of climate change can be judged by analysing the damage done by the forest fires in the state this year. “In order to reduce the impact of forest, agricultural activity needs to be increased in the hilly areas and water reservoirs should also be built on a much greater scale,” he added.

Rawat also acknowledged that the development bank has always helped out the state in its development endeavours and he wishes to get the support of the bank in future too, the release said.