The State Government has sought scaling up of allocation from the National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to the extent of Rs 10,000 crore to boost rural infrastructure.

Finance Principal Secretary Vishal Dev is coordinating such an effort as is allocating funding under various programs such as Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), Rural Infrastructure Assistance to State Governments (RIAS) Warehouse Infrastructure Fund (WIF) and Long Term Irrigation Fund (LTIF).

Out of Rs 10,000 crore, breakup is Rs 5,000 crore from RIDF, Rs 4,500 crore from RAIS and Rs 500 crore from LTIF programmes. Recently, Chief Secretary SC Mahapatra has also written to the NABARD Chairman to hike the RIDF allocation. During 2021-22, Odisha got allocation of Rs 3,000 crore under RIDF and received sanction of Rs 1,287 crore.

However, looking at the demand for more rural infrastructures, the State Government has intimated the NABARD to allocate Rs 5,000 crore under the RIDF programme.