Kerala government has okayed the merger of the 14 district cooperative banks into the Kerala State Cooperative Bank in a meeting of Cabinet held on Wednesday.
The issue had opposition in arms. From V Muraleedharan of BJP to Mullappalli Ramanchandran, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Chief-everyone is opposing the move.
They argue that amalgamating profit making DCCBs into a loss making apex body is not a good idea. From writing Governor and the Centre, they have also approached the court against the govt decision.
They fear that the newly established bank could be misused by the political establishments to fund state projects rather than catering to the needs of the common people who have been dependent on DCCBs for a long period.
The three tier co-operative credit structure in Kerala is sound with a wide network covering almost all the rural and urban population of the state. About 70% of the financial requirements of the poor and marginal elements like agriculturists, small scale industrialists, petty business persons, self-employed people etc are dependent on the credit co-operatives of Kerala for their livelihood, opposition leaders underline.