According to a report by New Indian Express, the Comptroller and Auditor General[CAG] of India has pointed out that political interference is once again rising in the cooperative sector in Maharashtra. The CAG has held the state government responsible for blocking of Rs 521 crore of deposits in five financially decrepit district cooperative banks.
These are the DCCBs in Wardha, Buldhana, Nagpur, Dhule, and Osmanabad. Although the lapse mainly pertains to the period when the Congress-NCP combine was in power in Maharashtra. Almost all of these banks are controlled by political heavyweights.
According to norms, finances related to a district fund and all sums received by it are kept in the DCCBs. The CAG has said the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), on whose recommendation the Reserve Bank of India issues licences to such banks, had in 2011 asked the state’s chief secretary to issue orders directing these banks to formulate an action plan for the funds parked as deposits, after its inspections for the fiscal years 2009-10 and 2011-12 revealed that their financial position was waning and their operations were unsatisfactory.
The government did not act on this recommendation till 2012, by which time the RBI had issued orders prohibiting the banks from conducting any transactions including acceptance and repayment of deposits. The CAG has said the Zilla Parishads continued to transact with these banks despite the RBI orders jeopardising the depositors’ interest. The CAG said in Buldhana Rs 127 crore remained blocked, whereas in Nagpur Rs 146 crore and Wardha Rs 5.14 crore.
Deposits amounting to Rs 94 crore remained blocked in the Dhule and Nandurbar. The CAG report was recently presented before the state legislature.