Former chief minister of Himachal Pradesh Prem Kumar Dhumal is all appreciation for cooperatives in the state. In his view, cooperatives have rendered useful services to the hoi poloi in the countryside and greatly helped them escape the stranglehold of avaricious money lenders.
Mr. Dhumal was airing his views on cooperatives while participating in the district level cooperative week celebrations in a village in Bhoranj sub-division of the Una district. Mr. Dhumal hoped the cooperative network would continue expanding to serve the common people.
However, Mr. Dhumal was sore about what was happening to the cooperative sector in the state. He charged the Congress govt. was messing up the cooperative scene through its vindictive attempts to get rid of the opposition controlled cooperatives. He described it as a step that diluted democracy in Himachal Pradesh.
Taking a dig at the Congress , he said he is filled with pain that Kangra central Cooperative Bank’s profit has declined from a whopping Rs. 56 crore to a paltry Rs. 22 crore during the Congress government.
