In a bid to protect the small borrowers from the harassment of money lenders, Sahakar Bharati is planning to open credit cooperatives in every district of Uttar Pradesh. This was revealed by Sahakar Bharati National Organizing Secretary Sanjay Pachpor.
Pachpor, who usually maintains a low profile, was speaking in a meeting of co-operators held recently in an auditorium of Jalaun District cooperative bank. Pachpor was aggrieved that in the absence of credit co-ops, money lenders fleece the common man.
Talking to Indian Cooperative on the issue, Pachpor said “We have seen that small borrowers face harassment at the hands of money lenders if they fail to repay the loan amount on time. In several cases, these borrowers are forced to pay a huge interest, we will try to ease their problems”, he added.
“According to my information, there is not a single credit cooperative in Uttar Pradesh. This is due to several chit-fund scams that happened in the past. The government has refused to give them licenses. Several credit co-ops in UP are owned by salaried employees. There are a few branches of multi state co-ops in the state but there is not one credit co-op run by the locals”, he underlined.
Pachpor further said ” We have a plan to open two credit co-ops in each district of Uttar Pradesh and in the first phase, we will open co-ops in 10 districts of the state. We will talk to UP Cooperative Minister Mukut Bihari Verma in this regard “, he informed.
It is learnt that in several states credit cooperatives have a strong network especially in Maharashtra and are catering to the financial needs of the street vendors, hawkers and even small businesses like pan shops and others. Because of these co-ops they are not forced to pay the higher interest.
On the occasion, several officials of the organization apprised him of the obstacles coming in the operation of cooperative societies.
Sahkar Bharati State President Ramashankar Jaiswal said development of villages would be possible only through cooperatives. The latter could double the income of farmers.
Sahakar Bharati State General Secretary Pravin Singh Jadaun, DCCB President Uday Singh Pidari were also present on the occasion.