Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said during Question Hour that NABARD has decided to relocate 16 existing DDM offices and opened 17 new offices in far flung backward districts, Left Wing Extremism affected areas and places where Women Self-Help Groups are present.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who was present, informed that the DDM offices which have been relocated under the special category are mostly from the North East states.
"NABARD has decided to relocate 16 existing DDM offices and 17 new offices of DDM have been opened. As a result, the total number of DDM offices has increased to 406," Mukherjee said, adding that an additional 146 offices have been tagged to them.
He maintained that 510 districts are covered by NABARD.
Meena said six new DDM offices have been opened in Jammu and Kashmir, one each in Tripura, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra while two were opened in Bihar.
Four DDM offices have been relocated in Kerala, two each in Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, and one each in Gujarat, Odisha, Karnataka, Haryana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra.
Mukherjee said he has issued standing instructions that local MPs should be invited for inauguration of such establishments as "normal courtesy".