Nabard to give Rs 7,000 crore to Telangana for 11 irrigation projects

The Dollar Business Bureau 

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) will be extending a loan of Rs 7000 crore to the Telangana Govt for 11 irrigation projects. The loan is a part of the MoU between the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and NABARD for providing assistance to 99 irrigation projects in the State. These projects come under the PM Krishi Sinchayee Yojana programme (PMKSY). 

The Telangana Minister for Irrigation, T Harish Rao met Central ministers, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Uma Bharti and RadhaMohan and apprised them of the issues related to their ministries in the State. He thanked NABARD and the Central Govt for extending them the loan. 

NABARD will raise in phases over Rs 77000 crore from the market to fund around 100 irrigation projects that have been categorised as priority under the PMKSY, for the next 4 years. These include the 56 projects that are in States that fall under drought-prone areas, such as Maharashtra, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh. While NABARD would initially fund Rs 20,000 crore, the minister for Water Resources Uma Bharti said, the remaining 57,000 crore too would be pitched in by NABARD in case the states fail to raise them. 

Bharti said the government has decided to irrigate an estimated area of 76.03 lakh hectares with more focus on increasing irrigation potential utilisation. Of the total projects, 26 will be completed in Maharashtra. In Madhya Pradesh and Telangana, 14 and 11 irrigation projects will be completed respectively.