Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 24: Out of 3000 registered cooperative societies in the State only 988 are functioning at present while rest all have turned defunct. This was stated by none else than Minister of Cooperatives, Chewing Dorjay in State Legislative Assembly today while winding up the debate on demand of grants for Cooperative Department.
Minister also informed the House that no elections were held to primary cooperative societies but now the process has been started and elections in Jammu and Ladakh region have been completed while in Kashmir valley the same could not be done due to unrest. But the Department will hold elections there too and after completion of this process elections to the Apex Committee will also be held.
The Minister said to make role of cooperatives more important and involve people in it an awareness campaign needs to be launched in the State. He said the J&K has 18 Central Cooperative Banks which have no RBI licenses and to restore them Rs 313 crore are needed.
In response to a point of Order raised by PDP MLA Altaf Bukhari about Srinagar Cooperative Bank, the Minister said there is no Cooperative Bank in Srinagar and it is the Apex Body Bank in the entire State. The Chairman is forcibly there and we have challenged him but he has court order. Later Speaker asked the Minister that the grants should be considered as passed. Though the opposition members objected but the House passed the grants with voice vote.
Dorjay said the Department is providing financial support to various Societies for subsidizing their management cost, besides generating various employment opportunities for the unemployed youth of the State.
The Minister informed the House that 1,682 Cooperative Societies are registered under the J&K Cooperative Societies Act, 1989 and 2,107 Cooperatives are registered under the J&K Self Reliant Cooperatives Act, 1999 in the State.
The Government is contemplating to constitute a Committee to prepare a Model Act which can govern both types of Cooperative institutions, the Minister said.
He further informed that the State has three-tier structure of Cooperative Societies viz. primary tier, consisting of primary level societies at village/block level having individuals as members, secondary tier, consisting of marketing societies at block/tehsil level having primary level societies as their members and Apex level Societies at State/divisional level having marketing societies and primary level societies as their members.
Reiterating the commitment of the Government to strengthen Cooperative movement, the Minister informed that Rs 43.70 lakh and Rs 79.75 lakh were provided to Cooperative Societies as managerial subsidy and special assistance during 2016-17 respectively. In Capex Budget, an amount of Rs 60 lakh has been proposed as assistance managerial subsidy while as Rs 120 lakh has been proposed as special assistance under the scheme, he added.
For augmenting business activities of Cooperative Super Bazaars, the Minister said the Government has opened sale outlets at various prime locations in the State, besides obtaining direct control over four medical fair price shops, the Minister informed.
The Minister further informed that J&K Milk Producers Cooperative Ltd. supplies milk and milk products under the name ‘Snow Cap’ across the State.
There are 9 Cooperative Banks in the State including J&K State Cooperative Bank Ltd, Srinagar having 1,05,550 deposit accounts, 10,898 loan accounts and 92,995 saving accounts; J&K, SCARD Bank, Srinagar having 11,782 deposit accounts, 2182 loan accounts and 72 saving accounts, Jammu Central Cooperative Bank Ltd, Jammu has 3,59,953 deposit accounts, 3,96,816 loan accounts and 2,62,949 saving accounts, Anantnag Central Cooperative Bank, Ltd having 1,43,128 deposit accounts, 1,51,245 loan accounts and 65,428 saving accounts, Baramulla Central Cooperative Bank Ltd. having 2,12,804 deposit accounts, 15,645 loan accounts and 1,57,104 saving accounts; Kashmir Mercantile Cooperative Bank Ltd, Sopore having 12,933 deposit accounts, 1,394 loan accounts and 10,137 saving accounts; Urban Cooperative Bank Ltd, Anantnag having 9,741 deposit accounts, 820 loan accounts and 5,298 saving accounts, Devika Urban Cooperative Bank Ltd, Udhampur having 10,868 deposit accounts, 812 loan accounts and 6,000 saving accounts and Citizens Cooperative Bank, Jammu having 89,097 deposit accounts, 6,018 loan accounts and 24,000 saving accounts operating through a network of 264 branches across the State.
The Minister informed the House the Government has approved an amount of Rs 35 lakh under CAPEX Budget, 2016-17 for renovation and upgradation of Cooperative Super Bazaars at Leh, Kargil and Srinagar while as Rs 25 lakh has been kept as token provision for construction of Super Bazaar at Kulgam.
The Cooperative Housing Corporation Ltd supplemented the Government in developing prestigious housing projects in the State including Tawi Vihar at Sidhra, Swarn Vihar Chack at Changerwan, Gulberg Housing Colony and Friends Enclave in Budgam, Varmul Heights at Baramulla, Green Park City Mujgund and Space Enclave in Khusipora.
Earlier Deputy Speaker Nazir Gurezi gave directions to Minister for constructing of Cooperative Housing Colonies in Jammu and Srinagar for MLAs and journalists.
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