The Union Agricultural and Co-operation Minister Radhamohan Singh is seized with the matter of cooperators’ foreign trips. Indian Cooperative has learnt that Mr Singh is soon going to come out with ways and means to check the unhindered foreign jaunts undertaken by cooperators of all hues.
Sources close to the Minister confided with Indian Cooperative that several cooperators who are not able to avail such luxuries have approached the Minister and narrated the tale of cooperators foreign trips and the fun they have in the process.
The Minister has also been briefed that during the latest Poland trip undertaken by scores of cooperators, one of them was so high with booze that he fell from the bus in Poland. Minister is believed to have taken serious note of the matter, source added.
Singh was briefed about the various trips undertaken in recent past by the cooperators on the cost of members’ money. He was also informed about the Bali trip in which again a large number of cooperators are going to take part. Tashkent, Poland and now Bali—enough is enough, said the source to Indian Cooperative.
Modi government is strongly opposed to foreign trips by the bureaucrats and has put in place a system where going abroad is no longer easy. Modi has also ensured that if the meeting is technical in nature only technocrats be allowed to go. Earlier, IAS officials represented all and sundry.
There has been no system in place to check the foreign jaunts undertaken by cooperators so far. There are cooperators who can be found loitering in the lanes of Europe practically every month, said the source.
What you need to qualify for a trip is to have an invitation from any of the cooperative organization abroad. It does not matter if the foreign based cooperative is a minor player in its own country, added the source.
