Uttarakhand: The Chief Secretary expressed strong displeasure over the departments disbursing less loan than the target in relation to the proposals approved under NABARD

Expressing strong displeasure over the departments disbursing less than the target loan in comparison to the approved proposals under NABARD, Chief Secretary Radha Raturi has taken the disbursement seriously and has directed to promptly meet the target of loan disbursement and payments.

CS Radha Raturi has directed the drinking water department to immediately send the proposals related to the development of drinking water facilities and to give top priority to NABARD for drinking water proposals. She has directed the secretaries and heads of all departments to conduct weekly reviews to expedite loan disbursement and payments. Taking cognizance of the delay in the processes during loan disbursement and payments by the departments as well as sending proposals to NABARD, Chief Secretary Radha Raturi has given instructions to simplify and expedite the processes. The Chief Secretary has directed to seek clarification from the department as the School Education Department was not present in today’s meeting. The Chief Secretary has also directed the Finance Department to review all the slow-moving projects within a week.

The Chief Secretary has directed NABARD to conduct a comparative study on the increase in agricultural income of farmers in relation to the development of irrigation facilities in the state. He has also directed NABARD to expedite the approval of proposals.

Chief Secretary Mrs. Radha Raturi chaired the meeting of the Second High Powered Committee (HPC) on NABARD’s RIDF (Rural Infrastructure Development Fund) at the Secretariat. The Chief Secretary said that the progress of disbursement by the departments in relation to the approved proposals is not satisfactory. All departments need to expedite it. He said that the problems being faced in distribution and payments by the departments should be resolved and the work should be completed soon. The Chief Secretary said that along with preparing good proposals continuously and sending the proposals to Finance, DPR should also be sent to NABARD, so that NABARD’s recommendation can also be received on time. He directed to continuously monitor the proposals every week and fortnightly.

In the meeting, Additional Secretary Finance informed that the High Power Committee has set a target of disbursement of loan of Rs. 1098 crore against Rs. 1162 crore under RIDF for the year 2024-25. He informed that against the target of disbursement of Rs. 1098 crore, only Rs. 232.28 crore has been disbursed by the departments so far.

Irrigation facilities have been created and restored on 2.05 lakh hectares of land from Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) under NABARD in the state. About 14,766 km of rural road network has been constructed and improved. 27307 meter bridge has been constructed. 23.77 lakh rural population has got drinking water facility. 241 schools and ITI have been constructed and renovated.

On this occasion, Secretary Shailesh Bagauli, Dr. B.V.R.C. Purushottam, Additional Secretary C. Ravishankar and NABARD officers Pankaj Yadav, Nirmal Kumar along with heads of departments and senior officials were present.