Chief Secretary reviews the Cooperative Department

Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun K Mehta chaired a meeting to review the working of Cooperative Department. The meeting was attended by Secretary Cooperatives, Yasha Mudgal alongwith the officers of the department. Registrar Cooperative Societies also attended the meeting through virtual mode.

The Chief Secretary urged the department for improving digital footprint in the cooperative sector along with exploring convergence in sectors like dairy, horticulture, fisheries, agriculture etc. with other departments for sustained gains.

Earlier during her presentation, Secretary, Cooperatives informed about the financial position of eight Cooperative Banks in terms of CRAR, NPA and CD ratio. It was informed that for improving the CRAR of the Cooperative banks as per the RBI norms, the targets have already been assigned to the concerned Banks and the recovery of NPAs has also improved during the last one year.

The total NPAs recovered during 2021-2022 was to the tune of Rs.45 Cr.

Yasha stated that out of 8 Cooperative Banks, 7 Cooperative Banks are already on CBS platform (Core banking System) having net banking facility and SMS alert and some of the Cooperative Banks also have ATMs and mobile banking Facilities.

The Chief Secretary expressed concern over non implementation of CBS in the Jammu Central Cooperative Bank and instructed the department to ensure that the bank migrates to CBS platform without any delay.

Yasha stated that elections have already been conducted where ever due in 92 %of Societies and the process of conduct of elections in the remaining Societies is underway.

In order to strengthen the democratic structure of the Cooperative Societies, Dr. Mehta directed that at the time of elections apart from ensuring wider publicity through media, SMS alerts should also be sent to the eligible voters of the Societies to make the process of elections fair and transparent.

Secretary Cooperatives highlighted the progress made on establishment of food processing units through Cooperatives within the approved Capex Budget 2022-23 and stated that 24 DPRS have been formulated and steps will be taken to establish these units expeditiously.

She further stated that the department plans to establish a Cooperative Milk Federation in J&K for providing benefit to the local dairy farmers presently selling their surplus produce in an unorganized sector. Yasha emphasized that with the establishment of the Federation, the surplus milk in J&K shall be tapped from unorganized sector to organized sector and processed, resulting in increase in incomes of the milk producers. She informed that there were 4458 Cooperative Societies/ Cooperatives registered under J&K Cooperative Societies Act, 1989 and J&K Self Reliant Cooperative Act 1999 and the registration process is now being done through online mode and 1023 Cooperatives have been registered within a short span of 10 months.

She further informed that the department has de-registered 1361 Cooperatives/ Cooperative Societies that were non-functional to create space for new ones.

Dr. Mehta urged the department to look for convergence with agriculture and allied sector to maximize the potential of the cooperative sector.

He said that the department must take steps towards a single Cooperative Societies Act for better administration of the sector in J&K.

He asked the department to lay out an actionable plan for reviving the sector by introducing cooperation as an enterprise in the sectors where it is likely to create sustainable livelihoods and improve incomes of the people.