Carry out study to make Cooperatives sustainable in long run: Chief Secy

Jammu, Apr 3: Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, today had a detailed review of performance of several Cooperatives including banks, societies, Super Bazars and other institutions working under the Department here in the UT.

Secretary Cooperatives, Registrar, Cooperatives, Additional Registrar, Cooperatives Kashmir/Jammu, Deputy Registrars and other officers of the department participated in the meeting while Srinagar based officers participated in person and virtually.

During the meeting, the Chief Secretary enquired about the performance of Cooperative Banks, Cooperative Super Bazars, Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) and other educational and training institutions working under the department.

The Chief Secretary asked about the improvement made in the working of the banks after previous capital infusion. He called for having a detailed examination of the exercise and coming up with concrete measures as envisaged under the plan. He also took note of the absence of CBS in certain bank branches of the department.

Regarding working of the PACS, the Chief Secretary suggested to explore the possibility of securing credit under the Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP) of the Agriculture Production Department for long term sustainability of these societies. He called for carrying out a study to make these societies sustainable in long run as the PACS are the real strength of the Cooperative movement.

Dulloo also asked for running business of the Super Bazars on modern lines as there is high potential of making them profitable assets. He made out that in association with SHGs of JKRLM the diversity of products and GI tagged items can increase the sales of such Bazars.

He assessed initiatives like decentralized grain storage project, Cooperative education and training institutions. He called for diversifying the courses and bringing them at par with market-oriented ones in demand by public.

In her presentation, Secretary Cooperatives, Babila Rakwal, threw light on different activities and achievements made by the department during previous financial year.

It was also informed that the department is in the process of Computerization of PACS and diversifying their roles to involve them in running Jan Aushadi Kendras, CSCs, FPOs and several other initiatives.

It was informed that the existing Super Bazars at district headquarters of Jammu, Srinagar, Anantnag, Baramulla, Budgam, Pulwama and Kulgam had been upgraded till February, 2024.