AIZAWL, DEC 12/--/ Dr. G.R. Chinatala, Chairman of NABARD inaugurated the Regional Office building of NABARD today at MINECO, Khatla, Aizawl. Dr.Chinatala in his address mentioned NABARD's willingness to match State Govt.'s efforts in accelerating the pace of developmentin the State. He said that although N ABARD hasbeen supporting various developmental efforts since its inception in the state, alot is still left to be done to uplift the socio-economic infrastructure of the beautiful state of Mizoram. He particularly mentioned the need for meticulous planning and execution on thepartof various State Govt. departments to upgrade the State's infrastructure.
NABARD started functioning in Mizoram as a sub-office in 1989 which was upgraded to a full-fledged Regional Office in 1992. Sincethe inception of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) in 1995-96, NABARD has sanctioned aggregate loan amounting to Rs.1744.51 crores involving 677 projects for critical rural infrastructure like rural roads,bridges,drinkingwater, health infrastructure, etc. of which Rs.1071.81 crores has been disbursed so far. Under the warehouse Infrastructure Fund, NABARD has supported Mizoram Govt.withtotalloan amountofRs.112.76 croresin building111warehouseswith aggregate capacity of 42,174 MTforstoringagricultureand horticulture produce.
NABARD through its different granst schemes have supported various organisations, banks and local bodies in areas like tribal development, setting up rural markets, rural marts, spring shed development, providing banking technology products to MRB and MCAB,providingmobile ATMs, supporting innovative agriculture extension programmes, developing PACS,supporting GI products, skill development programmes, handloom producer organisation, financial literacy campsetc.Totalgrant provided by NABARD during the last three years under its grant based development initiatives was more than 35 crores.
The meeting was attended among others, by J.C. Ramthanga, Addl. Chief Secretary to Chief Minister, Director, NABARD, P. Shimrah, General Manager, Reserve Bank of India, Aizwal and Lalmuankima Henry, Engineer-in Chief, PWD, Govt. of Mizoram.(DIPR)