The issue of absence of professional MDs continues to bog several state level apex co-op bodies of Uttarakhand. Most of all it is leading to chaos in the two top co-op bodies-State Co-op Bank and State Dairy Federation.
While an Additional Registrar Ira Upreti who was recently given the additional charge of MD in state Co-op Bank is clueless about banking operations, Jeevan Singh Naganyal, in-charge of Dairy Fed is blowing money without rhyme or reason, accuses Federation’s Vice-Chairman.
Breaking his silence over the issue of appointing a professional Managing Director for Uttarakhand State Cooperative Bank, the state Cooperative Minister Dhan Singh Rawat said a suitable person would be appointed sooner than later.
Talking to Indian Cooperative correspondent Rawat said, “We will soon amend the cooperative Act and constitute a committee to look for a professional Managing Director for Uttarakhand State Cooperative Bank. Afterwards we will also publish an advert “.
Meanwhile, denying rumours doing the rounds in the cooperative circles, Rawat said, “It is absolutely wrong to say we had earlier set up any committee in this regard. The three-member committee which we had formed at the time was for the appointment of an MD for Uttarakhand Cooperative Dairy Federation Ltd”.
It bears recall that for the last one year the apex bank has been a fiefdom of the cooperative department officials. When Deepak Kumar had been demoted from Managing Director to General Manager in May last year, the government had appointed then the State Cooperative Registrar B M Mishra for the post.
After Mishra’s retirement in April 2021, Additional Registrar Ira Upreti has been given the additional charge of Managing Director of Uttarakhand State Cooperative Bank.
However, Ira Upreti as the MD, lacks banking knowledge and is at the beck and call of the board of StCB, quipped one of the co-operators.
Cooperators connected with Congress alleged that the government was handing over cooperative societies to the people close to them. Even in Uttarakhand State Cooperative Federation MD Jeevan Singh Naganyal has been accused of working at the behest of the cooperative minister.
“For the past 2.5 years there had been neither AGMs nor the board meetings in the dairy federation. But that does not stop MD Naganyal from blowing money without keeping anyone in the loop”, alleges Dinesh who is the Vice-Chairman in the Dairy Federation.