National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned an amount of Rs

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117 crore under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund-XV (RIDF-XV) to the Government of West Bengal. The amount includes loan for 29 rural road projects (Rs 94.76 crore), loan for 11 flood protection projects (Rs 15.84 crore), loan for a joint forest management project (Rs 4.16 crore) and loans for 6 agricultural farm projects (Rs 2.31 crore), according to P Mohanaiah, chief general manager of NABARD.

The 29 rural road projects will come up in 10 districts of the state and will cover a road length of nearly 230 kilometres. The non-recurring employment generation is expected to be 44.52 lakh man days, NABARD said. The flood protection projects are expected to protect 12,473 hectares of land in 8 districts and create non-recurring employment of 8.35 lakh man days. The joint forest management project will be for the Buxa Tiger reserve in Jalpaiguri district. Lastly, the agricultural farm projects will enable six existing farms in Purba Medinipur district to increase production of seeds and proper storage of seeds, the apex development bank said.

Since inception, NABARD has sanctioned nearly 32,000 projects with a loan component of Rs 5,874.41 crore to the government of West Bengal, Mohanaiah said. The major investments which received financial support from NABARD include rural connectivity by way of Rs 2,993.03 crore (51%), irrigation and flood protection by way of Rs 1,271.37 crore (22%), social sector by way of Rs 483.15 crore (8%) etc.