NCUI invited several cooperators from across states and co-op sectors to its headquarters in Delhi to deliberate on foolproof arrangements for the upcoming Cooperative Congress, scheduled for -July 1-2 which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.
Chaired by NCUI President Dileep Sanghani, the meeting was attended by experienced cooperators including Jyotindra Mehta, Bijender Singh, Ajay Patel, S N Sharma, Ravindra Rao, Sunil Kumar Singh, among others. Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Cooperation Alok Agrawal was also present in the meeting.
NCUI’s Ved Prakash Setia made a power-point presentation on the blueprint for preparations made so far. The Chief Executive of NCUI introduced the subject before the participants. Sanghani welcomed the guests and said it’s an open house where everyone is welcome to share their opinions.
Nafed Chairman Bijender Singh stressed on the proper sitting arrangement. “It’s a program where the PM of the country will be the Chief Guest and thus we have to put our best foot forward”, he stated. Bijender also felt that complete waiving off registration fees for PACS may not be a good idea. Most of all, he felt that a team be formed by drawing competent officers from IFFCO, Kribhco and Nafed for a successful execution of the program.
Jyontindra Mehta, Nafcub President felt that the “first come first served” principle being followed for the registration may deny chance to many genuine cooperators. Mehta batted for a separate category for urban cooperative banks.
Later, the Committee decided to give 500 seats to UCBs, for which a separate link on the registration website would be provided. The meeting also felt that state leaders be involved in the registration process to filter in the genuine cooperators. S N Sharma said that state co-op unions could play an important role here.
Biscomaun Chairman and NCUI’s GC member Sunil Singh stressed that Entry Passes for the function must match with car passes to remove any confusion for the organizers. He also wanted a sufficient number of LCDs to be kept at the auditorium. Sanghani explained to him about the color code being used on passes this time.
Given the limited number of available seats which is 3000 for this function, there is indeed a huge pressure on the organizers to accommodate all. “There would be an online broadcast of the event for those who could not make it to the venue; cooperators and farmers across states can hear the speech of the Prime Minister”, assured Sanghani when concern for lack of enough sitting arrangements were expressed by the participants.
Indian Cooperative Editor Ajay Jha stressed on publishing the event in a big way on social media. “There are 30 crore people connected to the cooperative sector and even if a few percent take to Twitter with a Co-op Congress hashtag, the event will begin trending not only in India but also in the world”, he stated.
The event which was earlier planned for the Siri Fort auditorium would now be sited at the Pragati Maidan Convention Centre with a capacity of 3000 people, informed Setia in his presentation. This would be the first program in the newly made Centre, added CE Mahajan.
The NCUI President looked eager to take everyone onboard for this event. He personally phoned NCCT’s Mohan Mishra to join the meeting just before it was going to start. He also tendered apologies to those who could not receive the invite on time. Sanghani also felicitated Ajay Patel , Chairman of Gujarat State Co-op Bank on his maiden trip to the NCUI headquarters.
