In a rather bold move the NCUI president Chandra Pal Singh Yadav has demanded strong action again the accused of Nafed scam and save what was once known as the pride of cooperative, NAFED.
Chandra Pal also felt that Govt is not as stern with guilty as it should be. Punish them suitably so that such people are scared of tampering with co-op organizations but do not let an organization die like this, he added.
Only middlemen and dubious businessmen who fleeced NAFED to death are going to profit if NAFED dies. But if it is there, efforts to realize dues from them would also be on, he felt.
Meanwhile, Financial Express has reported that Nafed is facing imminent closure and liquidation with as many as eight banks, armed with the go-ahead from the Debt Recovery Tribunal, simultaneously initiating a process to recover R1,750 crore from it. An agriculture ministry official told FE that the federation’s failure to pay the dues to the lenders might lead to attachment of its properties and freezing of its bank accounts.
On the other hand, NCUI President is confident that a move to revive the ailing NAFED is on in the government corridors. If you ask me I cannot say anything in concrete terms but I have a feeling that government has made up its mind to rescue it from drowning, Chandra Pal Singh Yadav said talking to Indian Cooperative.
Chandra Pal agreed that some hanky-panky had indeed taken place in NAFED in the past but instead of punishing the guilty the government is punishing the cooperative organization.
It takes hundreds of years to build an organization like NAFED which acted as reliable friend for lakhs of farmers of the country in the past. Let us revive it and recreate its magic and also teach the erring cooperators, businessmen or officials such a hard lessons that they desist from repeating the wrong.
Readers would recall that Nafed became a guarantor to unsecured loans of R3,900 crore availed by 29 private companies for undertaking exports in agricultural and non-agricultural items. As several of these debtors defaulted, the onus of interest payment fell on Nafed, forcing it to take debt. The federation has managed to recover Rs 2,900 crore from defaulting partners so far, but the delays have cost it dear.