Itanagar: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has prepared a Focus Paper for Arunachal Pradesh envisaging a credit outlay of Rs 314.56 crore for ‘priority sector’ during the financial year 2013–14. The paper which was released here yesterday by chief secretary H K Paliwal, was prepared with a medium term perspective with special focus on the critical interventions required under each sector during the XIIth Plan period and will form the basis for the credit planning process of banks in the State, NABARD general manager P Radhakrishnan informed. The chief secretary highlighted the role of banking institutions in the development of the State and the importance of the ‘financial inclusion’ programme being implemented by the banks in the State. He expressed concern over the low credit deposit (CD) ratio and low off–take of credit under agriculture and plantation and horticulture sectors, which are the major sources of livelihood for majority of people. He requested the bankers to be proactive and handhold the borrowers in accessing credit. Touching upon the infrastructural constraints, Paliwal gave in detail the plan of the State government for augmenting infrastructure in the medium term and said that bottlenecks like connectivity and power will be removed within a period of five years. He also highlighted the necessity to improve cropping intensity, change cropping pattern and to popularize cultivation of plantation crops like rubber and tea as well as floriculture. Development Commissioner (Finance, Planning) Ramesh Negi stated that the area under assured irrigation was low, which needs to be increased with infusion of bank credit. He also touched upon the low cropping intensity and suggested that multiple cropping should be adopted to maximize income from small farmers. He also requested the bankers to finance input supply infrastructure such as nurseries, hatcheries and feed factories.