All for strengthening the cooperative movement in the State, the Punjab Government has decided to evolve a comprehensive plan to make all cooperative societies across the State financially more viable and sustainable.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, while presiding over a high-level review meeting of the Cooperative Department on late Tuesday evening, directed the officers concerned to revive all the loss-making cooperative societies by clubbing them profit-making ones, among other steps. Badal has asked “to work out a strategy for bringing out all 1040 loss-making cooperative societies, out of the total 3533 in the State, from the financial mess by initiating a vigorous campaign, intensifying business activities, clubbing them with other profit making societies in the form of clusters”.
Expressing concern over the agricultural stagnation in the State, Badal said that these cooperative societies could also play a vanguard role in promoting other allied businesses for the peasantry. “It is the need of the hour to reduce crop input costs for which the State Government has established agro-centers across the state from where farmers can hire agricultural implements instead of purchasing on their own,” he added.
For promoting this trend amongst the farmers, Badal asked the department to develop at least one such big centre in each district as a model, where all types of agriculture equipment be made available in abundance to attract the farmers. Badal also asked the cooperative department to provide good quality PAU recommended fertilizers and other agro-chemical at cheaper rates to the farmers at their doorsteps through cooperative societies, besides availing them cooperative banks loans as per their requirements thereby saving them from the intricacies of private loans.
It was informed that the cooperative department three District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) which were running in losses till March 31, 2012, have been brought in profit this year, that is March 31, 2013. Now, the Punjab State Cooperative Bank (PSCB) and all the 20 DCCBs are in profit as on March 31, 2013. The net profit of PSCB is Rs 18.91 crore and total of DCCBs Rs 36.84 crore, adding up to Rs 55.75 crore.
Chief Minister also gave approval to revise the Sehkari Bank Bima Yojna (SBBY) Scheme for the account holders to cover personal accident risk. With revised scheme, the account holders would have an option of having Personal Accident Risk Cover of Rs three lakh for a minimum balance of Rs 3,000 and Rs five lakh for a minimum balance of Rs 5,000 in their accounts.