Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has expressed his anguish to Prime Minister Narendra Modi upon being denied audience to an all-party delegation for a discussion to end the impasse in the cooperative sector.
In a letter to Mr. Modi on Thursday, Mr. Vijayan said that the all-party team was authorised by the Assembly that discussed the post-demonetisation crisis, with special reference to the cooperative sector, to meet him in person and convey the concerns of the State and hold discussions to arrive at a solution.
But his denial came as a rude shock to everyone. Mr. Vijayan said he was writing the letter to express the concern of about 19 million pople active in the cooperative sector with a lot of unique features.
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On destroying the agricultural and rural credit operations, functions of the National bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in the State would be derailed. Curbs on District Cooperative Banks (DCBs) had affected cash flow to primary societies, and also from them to the district banks.
Demonetisation had derailed the functioning of Kudumbasree neighbourhood groups and also the rural economy. Rural self-governance was in the doldrums. Disbursal of monthly pension to vulnerable groups through primary cooperatives would come to a standstill.
He sought the personal intervention of Mr. Modi to end the crisis and also to strengthen the robustness and sustainability of the cooperatives in the State.
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Mr. Vijayan said the DCBs would operate transparently, regularly reporting their financials to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI); fortify the already foolproof membership and management processes with KYC requirements; and closely follow the audit process with the RBI. The banks would also furnish any requested information from the Income Tax Department too.
He requested urgent action to allow account holders of the cooperative banking network, including primary and district banks, the same currency withdrawal rights as in the case of commercial banks. Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac too would take up the case with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, he said.