A Change of Guard also brings with it a new style of working. The Congress govt of Chhattisgarh has begun to tighten noose around erring cooperative banks in the state, which are mostly controlled by BJP leaders or their relatives. One such case is that of Rajnandgaon District Cooperative Bank.
Registrar of State Cooperative Societies has issued a notice of dissolution of the governing body of Rajnandgaon District Cooperative Bank. There are several charges of irregularities against the Bank. Registrar of State Cooperative Societies has also asked the board of directors of the bank to explain irregular transactions that cost the bank dearly.
It is to be noted that Sachin Singh Baghel the Chairman of the bank is a close relative of former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Raman Singh. Investigation has also found that the bank has violated the RBI norms. It is revealed that the bank did not act seriously on the short-term agricultural debt waiver scheme.
It is being said all kinds of irregularities were committed under his nose and with his tacit approval. It is common knowledge that for the past several years the bank management has been violating the prescribed norms.
Earlier, Raman Singh govt had begun the exercise of amalgamating all six DCCBs of the state into the apex bank. But Congress govt upturned the decision as soon as it came into power, which was hailed, among others by the Sahakar Bharati also.
All the six DCCBs of the state Raipur, Durg, Rajnandoan, Jagdalpur, Ambikapur, Bilaspur District Central Cooperative Bank are in profit and amalgamating with the apex bank was not a good idea, argued cooperators.
Reacting to the development of Rajnandgaon DCCB, Ashok Bajaj, former Chairman of State Co-op Bank said that nothing is going to come out of this probe as the matter is minor-the fund of phasal bima was inadvertently deposited into loan account; it was not a willful act, he said.
Bajaj felt that the Congress govt has begun witch-hunting of all the cooperators who owed allegiance to BJP; it is not healthy for the cooperative movement, he said ruefully. “The state cooperative act has also so many anomalies that anyone can twist it to his advantage”, he stated.
It bears recall that the six DCCBs have more than four lakh farmers are their members. These banks have more than 250 branches across the state and all of them are doing well.
(With input from Ajay Jha)