PATIALA: Punjab Minister for Co-operation and Jails, Mr. Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said that Punjab Government has strengthened the co-operative sector institutions which had come to an end during the tenure of the previous government.
He was here to inaugurate the newly opened branch of Patiala Central Cooperative Bank Limited at village Jalalpur near Patiala today. Mr. Hardial Singh Kamboj MLA Rajpura, Mr. Madan Lal Jalalpur MLA Ghanour and Mr. Vikas Garg Registrar of Cooperative Societies were also present on the occasion.
Giving the credit of opening the new bank branch to the MLA Madan Lal Jalalpur, Mr. Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said that Punjab government under the leadership of Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had given state-of-the-art facilities to its account holders as compared to private banks. He said that the previous government had insisted on abolishing cooperative banks by giving loans to their near and dears while we are committed to restore the glory of these institutions by getting repayment from the big defaulters. He further said that out of the loan of Rs.400 crore taken by the then Akali Dal government for running the Atta Dal scheme through Markfed and PUNSUP, Rs.380 crore has been repaid by the Captain government.
The Co-operation Minister said that the co-operative banks are the banks of the people and being the watchdog of these institutions, we have unearthed embezzlements and taken action against them as per law besides getting back borrowing money from the defaulters.
He said that to bring these cooperative banks at par with national and private ones, we are going to improve the online infrastructure by unifying all the 802 branches, for which request has already been made to RBI. This will that would allow inter-district transaction facility soon. Regarding the vacancies of secretaries in the cooperative societies in Punjab, he said that keeping in view the poor financial condition of these societies, the work would be done through the employees of the cooperative banks of vacant posts. He further said that this time Punjab government has set aside Rs. 520 crore for debt waiver of landless labourers associated with cooperative banks.
Apart from this, the shortage of staff in each branch is also being addressed through new recruitment. The Department of Jails and Co-operation have also been given a series of provisions for which rations and other daily necessities would be provided by Markfed, Milkfed and Sugarfed in the jails of the state. The capacity of milk plants at Patiala, Jalandhar, Bathinda, Ferozepur has been doubled and the milk plant at Bassi Pathana with a capacity of 11 lakh liters would be operational from June 15.
Mr. Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa also warned the people against the misleading propaganda of opposition parties including Akali Dal, AAP and BJP. He blamed former Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal for the degradation of religious values of Sikhs and said that the most egregious example of this was the Bargadi incident and the disappearance of 328 sacred sarups of Guru Granth Sahib under the management of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.
He quoted Congress party leaders Gurmukh Singh Musafar, Samund Singh, Teja Singh Sutantar, Darbara Singh, Ishar Singh Majhail, Santokh Singh Randhawa as saying that these leaders had done a lot for the Sikh Panth but this time the Akali Dal even did not pay homage to Lachhman Singh Dharowal of Gurdwara Movement in his village.
Jail Minister Mr. Randhawa further said that as per the target of improvement, the government has brought a revolution in the jail reforms and brought an end to the hooliganism in the jails. He said he had written to the High Court to set up courts in jails to hear gangsters as earlier im case of terrorists. He said that the gangsters lodged in the jails have been made to realize that they are locked up in the jails and instead of taking them out of the jails for trial, the trial is being held through video conferencing.
Welcoming Mr. Randhawa, Madan Lal Jalalpur MLA, Ghanour said that Government Development Fund would be deposited in this bank to make this branch of Patiala Central Cooperative Bank sucessful. Mr. Jalalpur said that Cooperative Banks were the backbone of the farmers and the farmers affiliated to these banks never committed suicide but by joining the private banks the farmers were buried under debts. He also specially thanked the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and Lok Sabha Member Mrs. Preneet Kaur for their initiatives in opening of this bank in Jalalpur.
Hardial Singh Kamboj, MLA Rajpura, in his address said that the stagnation in the co-operative movement has come to an end, due to the leadership of Captain Amarinder Singh who has given the reign of department to an honest man Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa. Mr. Vikas Garg, Registrar of Cooperative Societies said that cooperative banks were providing loans to farmers at lower interest rates with more facilities as compared to private banks.
On this occasion, District Urban Congress President, K.K. Malhotra, Rural Congress President, Mr. Gurdeep Singh Untsar, Women Congress President Ms. Kiran Dhillon, District Youth Congress President Mr. Nirbhai Singh Milti, Member Zila Parishad Mr. Gagandip Singh Jalalpur, Deputy Commissioner Mr. Kumar Amit, SSP Vikram Jeet Duggal, Jail Superintendent Shivraj Singh Nandgarh, SDM Patiala Charanjit Singh, Joint Registrar Jatinder Pal Singh, MD Bank Gurbaj Singh, Deputy Registrar Cooperation Sarbeshwar Singh Mohi, Branch Manager Inderjit Singh, GM Verka Gurmel Singh was also present.