NABARD to focus on climate change in Goa

Panaji: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has decided to focus on the issue of climate change in Goa and is willing to grant a financial assistant for it, a senior official has said. NABARD General Manager V R Khusro yesterday said the apex development financial institution is considering to give a grant of Rs 25 crore to the Goa State Biodiversity Board to address the issue. "Climate change is the new area on which we are now focusing. We are working with the state biodiversity board. The proposal is in the final stage and would be announced soon," he said.

Khusro was speaking at the state credit seminar where representatives of various banks were present. The NABARD is currently financing the Rs 147 crore solid waste management facility proposed at Cacora in South Goa district. "In the last financial year, a total loan of Rs 91.56 crore was sanctioned to the Goa government under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF). A project of Rs 47 crore has been approved under it," he said. 

Since the launch of the RIDF, the NABARD has sanctioned 198 projects in Goa worth Rs 1,530.08 crore, of which Rs 978.09 crore was being disbursed, he added. Khusro said the aggregate credit potential of Goa for 2018-19 has been assessed at Rs 7,413.34 crore - 14 per cent in agriculture, 52 per cent for the MSME and 34 per cent for other priority sectors like agriculture, fisheries, education, food processing nd others.