Bhubaneswar, Jan 20 (IANS): The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned Rs 951 crore to the Odisha government under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), officials said.

The fund has been sanctioned on Thursday for construction of 176 rural road projects to be implemented by the Rural Development department of the State government in all the 30 districts of the State, said Chief General Manager (CGM) of NABARD (Odisha region), C. Udayabhaskar.

The road projects with a combined length of 1,434 km will improve rural road connectivity for 9.92 lakh people in 959 villages, he said.

This sanction is on the line of priority fixed by the state government for developing critical rural infrastructure for drinking water supply, irrigation and rural connectivity (road and bridge).

These infrastructure projects will play a key role in supporting the rural economy by improving the livelihoods of people, the CGM said.

So far, the NABARD has sanctioned Rs 3,852 crore under RIDF (XXVII) during the current financial year. The total cumulative amount sanctioned since inception of the RIDF has crossed Rs 32,000 crore for Odisha.