Members of the All Odisha Cooperative Societies Employees’ Federation (AOCSEF) would stage a demonstration before the State Assembly here on March 18 protesting the Government’s apathy towards their demands. Federation president Harish Gourang said they would hit the street demanding hike in salary according to the Sixth Pay Commission, pension after retirement, DA and other facilities that Government employees get.
He alleged that both the Central and the State Cooperative Banks are exploiting cooperative societies with heavy interests on different technical grounds which need to be probed by a high-level committee or an investigating agency. Federation working president Niranjan Sahu said the Central Government had announced that it would provide computers to societies free of cost, but later it cut the amount from the societies’ account without the cooperative societies’ consent. “The societies are working in a difficult condition. They should be given good facilities like Government employees,” said Gourang