Agricultural credit societies to be set up in each village, says Cooperation Minister

Cooperation, Tourism and Jail Minister Dr Arvind Sharma has said the state government’s aim is to establish primary agricultural credit societies (PACS) in every village so as to connect more and more people with it.

Addressing a state-level function at Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) here, Sharma said: “The state government is determined to realise the dream of PM Narendra Modi by involving more and more people in the field of cooperation. For this, special camps will be organised in every district headquarters in the coming time, through which people will be informed about cooperation schemes so that they can become self-reliant by forming their groups.”

The minister said there were immense possibilities of becoming self-reliant and the cooperative sector of the state would be developed on the lines of Gujarat and Maharashtra. “The state government is implementing many schemes to promote cooperation to ensure direct benefit to those associated with the cooperation sector. Till a few years ago, there was a demand for Haryana's milk products in other states but some stagnation came in between. Now, the time has come to give it a momentum again. HAFED's products are being exported to Dubai and Abu Dhabi,” said Sharma.

The minister instructed all officers of the Cooperative Department to work in such an effective manner that there is an increase of 20 to 25 per cent in the co-operative sector. “At present, 55 lakh people, including youth, elderly and women, are associated with 33,000 cooperative committees of the state. All these people do their work by forming groups. By forming small groups, citizens can join the cooperative sector and set up petrol pumps, gas agencies and warehouses. For this, loans are being provided by the government at cheap interest rates,” Sharma added.