The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has agreed to extend financial support to both Mission Kakatiya and the Telangana Drinking Water Project.
NABARD's Hyderabad unit Chief General Manager Jiji Mammen called on Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Saturday and informed that this year they are funding Rs. 360 crores for Mission Kakatiya, and would enhance it to Rs. 500 crores during the next financial year.
He told the Chief Minister that the Drinking Water Supply Project would be funded from the NABARD Infrastructure Development Fund as an RIDF (Rural Infrastructure Development Fund) loan.
Mammen also assured the Chief Minister that with the government guarantee, NABARD would also bring down the rate of interest. He however requested the breaking up of the project into smaller phases so that the bank could put up allocate funds year-wise. Starting with Rs. 1,000 crores during the financial year 2015-16, NABARD has agreed to fund Rs 5,000 crores for the entire scheme.
Responding to the proposal from the NABARD Chief General Manager, the Chief Minister said that there were various irrigation projects all over Telangana, and that in each project 10% of the water was being reserved for drinking purposes. He said that once taps were provided to each and every house in the municipal and urban areas, people would come forward to pay for the scheme, and the amount so generated would be used to pay back NABARD.
The Chief Minister said that a larger budget would be allocated to the Drinking Water Supply Scheme if necessary.
The Chief Minister also agreed to give some land to NABARD for the construction of its building in Hyderabad. In response to a request from the CGM, the Chief Minister also agreed to meet the Chairman of NABARD on 17th March.
The meeting was also attended by Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao, Chief Secretary Dr Rajiv Sharma, Principal Secretary to the CM S Narsinga Rao, Principal Secretary for finance Nagireddy, and Secretary Finance Ramakrishna Rao. (INN)
filed in:Telangana, KCR, Telangana Water Grid, Mission Kakatiya