Panel to study how to plug district co-operative banks losses: CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy

Amaravati: In a bid to help the financially suffering cooperative banks in the state, the state government has initiated time-bound measures. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said that a committee would be constituted to look into the losses in district co-operative banks.

He ordered officials to conduct a study by a prestigious organisation on strengthening these banks, during review meeting on agricultural marketing and cooperative departments on Thursday at his residence at Tadepalli in Guntur district.

The district co-operative banks will be re-organised in order to strengthen the system, once the government would get the reports from expert committee and the study by the prestigious organisation.

Jagan asked to digitalise the primary agriculture cooperative committees. Jagan instructed the officials to complete all the works in a time-bound manner. The committee recommendations must be started implementing within six months, he instructed.

On the other hand, he asked officials to ensure 50 per cent women and 50 per cent SC, ST, BC in market committees. The Market Committees should be able to decide the prices during the cultivation of crops, said Jagan.

In this meeting, they discussed on the prices of lentils, mung, Bengal gram, tomato and cotton. Framers should strongly believe that we have given hope and they should not forcefully sell the crops to middlemen, said Chief Minister.

The Chief Minister has directed the officials to do away with middlemen system. He also ordered to establish a board for millets by the end of October. The government is planning to announce price for the crops that have no minimum support price.

The government will start purchasing dryland crops on October 15. The officials have asked the farmers to start for online enrolment from October 10, through eNAM. Rayalaseema should be transformed as millets hub, said the Chief Minister and asked the officials to keep green cover for nine months.

The millets board experts should be given utmost priority. Agriculture practices, marketing, and processing should be under the control of the board. The board should be set up by the end of October, he ordered.

Amidst onion crisis in the country, AP supports its citizens by selling the onions for Rs 25 per kilogram, officials informed Jagan. The Chief Minister enquired about the stock of onions in the state.

So far, 660 metric tonnes of onions have been imported from other states. The officials mentioned that they have rescued tomato farmers after checking the availability in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

The Chief Minister has asked the officials to conduct a comprehensive observation on storage of agro-products, fishes, prawns, and other ocean products in godowns and cold storage. The meeting was attended by Ministers Kanna Babu and Mopidevi Venkatramana and other officials concerned.