Sahakar Bharati leader Shankar Dutt Tiwari who is the Sangathan Mantri of Northern Region has accused the Punjab government of throttling the cooperative movement by issuing a notification that talks of charging fees ranging from one lakh to twenty lakhs for those who wish to form a new cooperative.
Tiwari said this notification amounted to breaching all the existing cooperative laws in the country, informs a press release issued by Sahakar Bharati.
There is not one single state or union territory in the country including the Kejriwal govt in Delhi that charges fees for forming cooperatives, Tiwari noted.
Tiwari urged the Punjab govt to withdraw the diktat without delay otherwise this would drive the youth away from the state.
It is worth mentioning that the 2022 Cooperative Society Amendment Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha to uplift the society to make farmers, youth, men and women self-reliant, and in that it is not written anywhere that registration fees should be charged from cooperative societies.
In an emotional outburst, Dutt says “Every worker of Sahakar Bharati sacrifices his own interests and works for the society, fighting for the interests and rights of the cooperatives. And in this difficult situation, being social workers, we all are with those young brothers and sisters who want to form a new cooperative society.”
Sahakar Bharti leaders have made several officials including Himanshu Jain, IAS putting forth their requests. “We have also sent several emails to the Chief Minister but to no avail”, recounts Dutt.
The notification was issued on 25th September in 2023.