Bureaucrats are a strange quantity, so would it seem if you notice their quick “shifting of courts” should the situation demand. They treat cooperative as extension of government but are quick to say the opposite if they slide into trouble.
Sudha, a dairy co-operative product is a pride of Bihar. Comfed is its parent and is being overseen by an IAS officer presently named Mrs Harjot Kaur. Kaur is accused of supplying milk to a Moradabad dairy at a much cheaper rate. The matter has acquired political overtones with the Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly gunning after her.
Cornered from all sides Mrs Kaur is forced to employ the classic defence, hitherto used by cooperative leaders. Asked why she didn’t follow the tendering process, Kaur said Comfed was a “sahkari” (cooperative), not “sarkari” (government), organization. It’s also out of RTI (Right to Information) purview. However, she admitted the state government had a share in Comfed, but parried the question pertaining to the figures of the government’s share.
However in the press conference in Patna on Monday MD Harjot Kaur said she was ready for “any such inquiry”.
Addressing a press conference, Kaur had a press release distributed among the newsmen. It claimed the pre-tax profits of the Comfed and its milk unions went up from Rs 20.91 crore in 2010-11 to Rs 50.86 crore in 2013-14. It further said the Comfed’s deposits went up from Rs 98 crore to Rs 159 crore during the last three years. It, however, did not say whether the increased deposits included any loan procured by the Comfed.