Special Correspondent
Action mooted against CPI(M)’s ‘bid’ to capture societies controlled by the UDF
Misuse of cooperative renewal fund alleged
Thiruvananthapuram: The United Democratic Front is heading for a confrontation with the LDF Government, leading to the boycott of the Sahakarana Congress slated to be held next month.
The UDF committee, headed by CMP leader K.R. Aravindakshan, is understood to have recommended strong action against the CPI(M)’s move to capture cooperative societies and apex bodies controlled by the UDF.
The committee, which finalised its report the other day, noted that more than 245 cooperative societies had been disbanded and administrative rule imposed since the LDF came to power.
The functioning of major apex cooperative bodies such as Marketfed, Rubbermark and Housingfed, controlled by the UDF, had come to a standstill as a result of the Government ordering either a Vigilance probe or a departmental inquiry. Moves were afoot to disband 56 urban cooperative societies controlled by the UDF.
The committee pointed out that the Cooperative Department had ordered 15 kinds of fund-raising schemes, pressurising officials to mobilise funds ever since the LDF came to power. Similarly, societies were being asked to purchase unsold books with the CPI(M)-controlled Sahitya Sahakarana Sanghom to set up libraries.
“The decision to ask cooperatives societies to set up libraries was unwarranted and could be viewed only as an attempt to sell unsold and unwanted books that were lying with the sanghom,” Mr. Aravindakshan said.
The UDF committee also sought to highlight the attempts of the CPI(M) to bail out nearly 250 cooperative societies by misusing the cooperative renewal fund. This was one of the main reasons why the Government was unwilling to sign a MoU leading to the implementation of the Vaidyanathan Committee report.
The panel, comprising UDF convener P.P. Thankachan, K.R. Aravindakshan, T.H. Mustapha, Vasudeva Sarma, Phillipose Thomas, Joy Abraham, V Satyaseelan, Abdul Hameed, K.J. Phillip and Nalanda Gopalakrishnan, decided to convene a meeting of chairpersons, presidents, board members of cooperative bodies under UDF control and representatives of the cooperative employees association here on Monday.
Mr. Thankachan said that the meeting would finalise an agitation plan to prevent the CPI(M) from politicising the cooperative sector.
