In a dramatic turn of events, the recently retired Chief Executive of NCUI, N Satyanarayana took over as the Managing Director of apex body of labour cooperatives-NLCF on Monday. Sanjiv Kushalkar who apparently controls the NLCF, is said to be the man behind his appointment
Perhaps taking a cue from Indian Cooperative news item alluding to the lack of focus among NLCF leadership in finding a suitable candidate in the wake of Pratibha Ahuja’s retirement, the Board rose to the occasion and roped in Satyanarayan, whom people regards as honest and competent.
“It is not money but a challenge to turn the co-op body around with huge potential, that has brought me here”, said Satyanarayan explaining his decision to join the co-op organization.
Reacting to the NLCF Board’s choice of Satyanarayan, Kushalkar said “We have always felt that the apex body has suffered in the past due to the non-availability of a competent hand; Once we knew Satyanarayan is free we approached him and we were lucky he agreed”, said Kushalkar.
Kushalkar also said there would not be any dearth of money as from Pune and Maharashtra alone, one can generate enough funds for the survival of the NLCF. The big question is igniting the labour co-op movement across the country. We look up to the new MD precisely for this, he added.
On Monday, the MD in-Charge Dinesh Chandra welcomed Satyanarayana and gave him the charge. Readers would recall that the NLCF MD Pratibha Ahuja had retired on 31st March giving charge to Chandra.
Satyanarayana’s appointment was discussed in the Staff Recruitment/ Retirement and Promotion Sub Committee meeting of NLCF held virtually on Friday which was chaired by Amit Bajaj. The committee put a stamp on his name and decided to appoint him for a period of three years.
Talking to Indian Cooperative correspondent at the NLCF headquarters, soon after taking the charge Satyanaryana said, “At present the organization is grappling with the huge financial crisis. There is no source of income except the rent which is very less. Even officials have not been getting their salaries for a few months. I have decided to extricate the organization from the present crisis so employees are paid their salaries on time “.
“Though, the apex body of the labour cooperative is having huge capacity for earning. We will focus on getting tender from the central government for the work and would like the govt to give exemption to labour co-ops for encouraging the cooperative movement in this segment. Having been in the cooperative sector for long, I know whom to contact for reviving the labour co-op movement”, Satyanaryana added.
He further said, “I look forward to support and cooperation from all including the largest labour cooperative society namely ULCCS in reviving the organization.”
I have just taken charge and am studying its bye-laws and other relevant things. There are over 46k labour co-ops in the country but most of them are inactive, I will identify them, prepare a database and devise ways to revive them”, he underlined.
(With inputs from Rohit Gupta)