Haryana Congress leader and Adampur MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi has written a letter to State Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in connection to the merger of Haryana State Cooperative Agriculture & Rural Development Bank (HSCARDB) with Haryana State Cooperative Apex Bank Limited (HARCO). He urged the CM not to merge the bank with HARCO in the interest of farmers.
In his letter he wrote, “The Haryana Government has formed a committee with an objective to merge the HSCARD Bank with HARCO Bank. With the constitution of the committee, the bank employees, directors, members, shareholders and loanee farmers are very disappointed. The merger of farmers’ bank (HSCARDB) into the HARCO bank will adversely affect the loan recovery of the bank”, Bishnoi added.
“With such a negative decision, the bank’s recovery is likely to reach at zero level and the financial burden is likely to increase on the government. NABARD has been given bank guarantee till 2022 by the government. In both the circumstances (running the bank smoothly and closing the merger), the liabilities of NABARD will have to be borne by the state government itself”, he cautioned the state government through his letter.
The letter copy was shared by him through social media. According to the letter, “The bank was established in 1966 and the number of shareholders is more than about 7 lakhs. If this bank is merged with HARCO bank then there will be a serious problem with the members of the bank”, he averred.
HSCARD bank offers loans for a longer period at the simple rate of interest. At present, there are 71 branches across the state which were 86 in the year 2005. 15 branches of the bank have been merged with the nearest branches. The debt collection of these merged branches was adversely affected and reached to the minimum level because a false message was propagated among the indebted members of the farmers that the bank is on the verge of closing, the letter reads.
He informed that all the bank directors are elected under the Haryana State Cooperative Act 1984. All of them are united and opposing the move of merger. The merger will weaken the cooperative movement of the state.
“The bank’s financial position has improved over the years. Currently, there are around 800 employees in the bank. So, I urge you to take the decision in the interest of farmers and employees to run the bank smoothly”, the letter concludes.