Tamil Nadu - Dindigul   

“Efforts on revive cooperative banks”

DINDIGUL: Efforts are on to revive cooperative banks and societies for the uplift of the rural poor. Cooperatives have been playing a crucial role in developing rural economy and uplift of farmers.

More or less, it has been acting as parallel government, said I. Periasamy, Minister for Revenue.

Delivering a special address and Cooperative Week celebrations held here on Thursday, he said that cooperatives could do many things that could not be implemented by the government.

Even as several public sector undertakings did not perform well, cooperatives were functioning extremely well.

They have been satisfying the financial needs of farmers, workers and the poor with its simplified lending procedures, the Minister said.

The government has been distributing essential commodities like rice, pulses, cereals, oil and kerosene through cooperative societies only, Mr. Periasamy added.

In her special address, Collector R. Vasuki said that cooperatives have been assisting the district administration in settling several problems of people successfully.

“We have settled shortage of fertilizer with the help of cooperatives. Supply of fertilizers has been streamlined through primary agriculture cooperative banks only. The PACBs alone distributed 806 tonnes in Oddanchatram and 560 tonnes in Dindigul block.

A total of 96 PACBs disbursed Rs.1.04 crore loan to farmers’ committees.

Besides fertilizers, quality seeds too have been supplied to farmers. The agricultural cooperative marketing committees have started procuring sunflower seeds and maize and auctioned them in public to offer better price to farmers.

Later, Mr. Periasamy presented shields and awards to cooperative banks and societies that performed well. Aid worth Rs. 1.55 crore to beneficiaries was distributed.

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