Coop frauds: Complaints have reached Amit Shah, says minister S T Somashekhar

Karnataka Cooperation Minister S T Somashekhar on Thursday said complaints regarding fraudulent activities in district central cooperative (DCC) banks and other cooperatives of the state had reached Union Home & Cooperation Minister Amit Shah.

Somashekhar said this at a preparatory meeting ahead of the 68th All India Cooperative Week celebrations, in which officials got a dressing down on the state of affairs.

"We're getting hundred complaints daily...the compaints have reached Amit Shah as well," the minister said. "What [Shah] will do is to take a decision that there should be Apex Bank and Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) only," Somashekhar said.

The minister rued that DCC Banks were lending arbitrarily, citing the examples of Kolar, Chikballapur and Tumakuru. "In Kolar, just three taluks have been given loans worth Rs 30 crore. In Tumakuru, loans are being given just like that," he said. "If cooperative institutions should survive, we should show that there's a department by following the law. What's the point in having this department otherwise?"

Bringing up the case of milk adulteration at the Mandya Milk Union Ltd (Manmul), Somashekhar said he was shocked to discover the scale of the illegality. "The case has been given to the CID, but the investigation is progressing at a slow pace," he said. "I was shocked to see how water was being filled into a tanker. The tanker driver or contractor cannot do that so easily without everybody's involvement," he said.

The minister vowed to amend the existing laws to strengthen the cooperative sector.

According to him, presidents of cooperative bodies are not following the rules. "One thing I am determined to do is to introduce reservation to the posts of presidents and vice-presidents for cooperative bodies - PLD banks, DCC banks and the state-level federation," Somashekhar said. "Tenure-based reservation of 2.5 years or five years will be introduced," he said, adding that he will move the amendment in December.

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