Cooperators owing allegiance to BJP, Brijbhushan Gairola and Matwar Singh Rawat were declared elected unopposed as the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of Uttarakhand State Cooperative Federation popularly known as UCF on Wednesday.
Buoyed with the victory, the newly elected Chairman Gairola said to this correspondent on the phone “I extend my heartfelt gratitude and sincere thanks to State Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and Cooperative Minister Dhan Singh Rawat for helping us conduct a free and fair elections”.
It is being reported that there are 14 directors on the board of UCF including one Chairman, Vice-Chairman, two women directors, one director from SC/ST and eight directors from General Category and one government nominee. All the elected directors are first timers on the board of UCF except Rajendra Singh Negi from Haldwani.
There are 6 directors from Kumaon Mandal and 7 directors from Garhwal Mandal. Earlier, BJP has come off with flying colors winning most seats of cooperative societies of Uttarakhand in the recently concluded elections.
”Since my innings is of five years we would make a road map for taking UCF to newer heights. We are planning to diversify the business of UCF like production of apple juice etc. We will setup a processing plant and upgrade the cooperative drug factory in Ranikhet (Almora) and Uttarakhand Medicines & Pharmaceuticals in Halduchaur, Haldwani”, the newly elected Chairman claimed.
It bears recall that last month the state government had appointed Brijbhushan Gairola as the chairman of the administrative board of UCF which had earlier been headed by NCUI-IFFCO Director Pramod Kumar Singh. However, this time round Singh did not participate in the UCF election.
Indian Cooperative correspondent failed to elicit the response of the former chairman Pramod Kumar Singh because he was not available for comments. However, earlier in a chat with Indian Cooperative Singh is quoted saying the business of UCF is in decline and the federation is able to pay allowances and salaries of its staff members only with the fund earned as rent.
Now the election of Uttarakhand State Cooperative Bank and Pradeshik Cooperative Union will be held and the yearlong procedure of holding cooperative elections will come to an end.
It bears recall that UCF has seen many ups and downs after the BJP assumed office in the state. Soon after the victory in the assembly polls, the BJP govt removed Pramod Kumar Singh-an avowed Congressman from the Chairmanship of Uttarakhand State Cooperative Federation (UCF) and put Ghanshyam Nautiyal as the new chairman of the apex co-op body.
Amidst allegations and counter-allegations Singh’s camp feels he was removed from UCF by the government in a pre-planned manner. “Before all else, the government dissolved 97 cooperative societies across 10 districts connected with UCF saying the societies are not doing any worthwhile business with the federation. All these member societies were part of UCF”, they aver.
