The Uttarakhand State Cooperative Federation limited chairman Pramod Kumar Singh has alleged that the bureaucracy in the State is preventing the recommendations of the Vaidyanathan Committee from being implemented in the State's cooperative sector.
Addressing the media after being elected unopposed for the third consecutive term as the Indian Farmers' Fertiliser Cooperative limited (IFFCO) director from Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh (partial), Singh expressed concern at the deteriorating level of the cooperative movement in the State and accused the bureaucracy of being responsible for this. He said that the State Government had not reimbursed the subsidy amount to cooperative banks in the State for the subsidised loans provided by them to farmers due to which the cooperative banks might not be able to provide crop loans to farmers of Uttarakhand in the future.
Speaking about the cooperative sector in the State, Singh said that during ND Tiwari's term as Uttarakhand's chief minister from 2002 to 2007, Tiwari had stressed on the need for preventing Uttarakhand's cooperative sector from deteriorating to the levels seen in neighbouring UP.
"A memorandum of understanding was signed between the Uttarakhand government and the Central Government in 2007 to facilitate implementation of the Vaidyanathan Committee recommendations, but nothing concrete has been done in this direction so far. Uttarakhand is one of the only two States in India where the Vaidyanathan Committee recommendations have not been implemented due to which government interference in cooperative sectors continues unabated.
Our condition will deteriorate seriously if necessary measures are not taken soon. For about four years now, the State Government has not been reimbursing the 10 cooperative banks in Uttarakhand, the loan subsidy amount provided by these banks to farmers which is about Rs 40 crore. If this amount is not reimbursed to the cooperative banks in Uttarakhand, these banks will not be able to continue providing subsidised crop loans to the farmers because the banks are on the verge of closure," warned Singh.
Accusing the State bureaucracy of interference Singh accused the Cooperative Department of misinforming the State government.
"Recently the State administration had formed the post of an officer on special duty (OSD) in cooperative. We challenged this decision in the Uttarakhand High Court which, a few days ago has sought clarification from the State within two weeks. The State administration is assaulting the autonomy of the cooperative committees," he said. The Dehradun district cooperative bank
chairman Dr KS Rana was also present at the Press conference.