Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has written to National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) chairman Prakash Bakshi seeking Rs.300-crore funding to the Kole Development Agency this year itself for a Kole development project.
NABARD has taken a stand that the funding could be provided only during next financial year.
The Chief Minister, in his letter to Mr. Bakshi, said the farmers were not able to use Kole fields effectively for want of bunds and canals. The State government had drawn up a project costing Rs.412 crore to solve the problem and the Central government had approved it.
Mr. Chandy recalled that decisions had been taken on funding for the project from the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund of NABARD and the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana. A sum of Rs.300 crore was to be made available from the fund and Rs.112 crore from the yojana.
