March 17: Campaigners of cooperative in Nepal have suggested to the stakeholders not to undermine the cooperatives – one of the pillars of economy – operating as per their norms and values.

As the cooperative started landing in trouble one after another in recent months due to the overall economic crisis, the campaigners urged the decision-makers not to consider all cooperatives as problematic.

In the wake of the recent crisis, the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation has made efforts to resolve the problems surfaced in savings and credit cooperative sector.    

Speaking at a discussion organized on Wednesday on the issues related to cooperatives, Secretary Dr Damodar Regmi said that the government has already issued a directive to the Cooperative Solution Committee to make necessary arrangement for the embattled cooperatives to immediately return the savings of the depositors.     

He informed that the committee has so far had the cooperatives return Rs 450 million to the depositors and is also investigating records of over 1,000 cooperatives.    

Secretary Regmi further said that the Department of Cooperatives has made arrangements for returning the deposits to the clients. In this regard, the department has decided to hold the passports and freeze the bank accounts of the operators of problematic cooperative for working against the established norms and values.    

Dr Regmi also urged the office-bearers of the National Cooperatives Federation to help incentivize the cooperatives having good performance and book the wrongdoers.    

National Cooperatives Federation Chair Minraj Kandel suggested to the district-based office-bearers not to motivate the cooperatives involved in wrongdoing and encourage the good performers.    

Cooperatives management committee chair Kashiraj Dahal drew the government's attention resolve the problems of the depositors. He also asked the government to impart a message that there was a mechanism to rescue the depositors in troubled times.    

The department's Registrar Namaraj Ghimire said that the government is actively engaged in bringing the faulty cooperatives to book.    

On the occasion, other speakers underlined the need for collective commitment to resolve the problems caused by the wrong actions of some operators. -- RSS