Maharashtra seeks Rs 40,700-crore loan from World Bank

The state government has sent a proposal to the World Bank seeking a loan of 600 million dollars (Rs 40,733 crore) for water conservation project to be implemented in about 20,000 drought-hit-villages in the state, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Sunday.

“We have already sent a formal proposal to the World Bank to grant a loan on low interest rate and the funds obtained through loan will be used for implementing water conservation projects in the state. Far more investment is needed in agriculture for sustainable and reasonable farming,” said Mr Fadnavis He appealed to the farmers and others to participate in the state-run Jalyukt Shivar Yojana.

The state government had declared drought in 27,723 villages of the 43,000 villages in the state. The drought was particularly severe in eight districts of Marathwada — Aurangabad, Latur, Beed, Osmanabad, Parbhani, Hingoli, Nanded and Jalna where back in April 2016 state had requested World Bank to approve loan of Rs 5,000 crore for drought mitigation measures.

Mr Fadnavis who was addressing a rally further added that development of Kolhapur airport was on the priority list of the state.