By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: Ashish Kumar Bhutani, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation, Govt of India, visited Odisha to attend the 4th State Cooperative Development Committee meeting chaired by Odisha Chief Secretary Smt. Anu Garg.
With the aim of making the cooperative system of Odisha stronger and more dynamic, the fourth meeting of the State Cooperative Development Committee was held at Lok Seva Bhawan under the joint chairmanship of the State Chief Secretary and the Secretary of the Union Ministry of Cooperatives. In this important meeting, detailed discussions were held on the implementation of the ‘State Cooperative Policy 2026’, converting cooperative societies into model societies and expanding the membership drive, especially the construction of large-scale grain storage and grain market infrastructure in the state, construction of godowns and offices at the society level.
Apart from this, the meeting decided to completely computerize cooperative societies and provide training to increase the technical skills of employees, and to make fertilizers, seeds, pesticides and emergency medicines and other necessary equipment easily available to the rural people and members through the societies. Upgrading of milk and fish cooperative societies is also an important part of this development process.
The event was attended by Joint Secretaries and Directors of the Union Ministry of Cooperation, Principal Secretaries of the State Finance Department and Food Supply and Consumer Welfare Department, Secretaries of the Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment Department and Fisheries and Livestock Development Department and senior officers of other concerned Line Departments.
The ‘OS-CIT’ technical training programme organized at the State Convention Hall to enhance the technical skills of the workers of Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) and Large Area Multipurpose Cooperative Societies (LAMPCS) was inaugurated by the Union Cooperative Secretary Dr. Ashish Kumar Bhutani.
The main objective of the programme is to strengthen the cooperative system in a more transparent, efficient and digital manner. On this occasion, Joint Secretary of the Union Ministry of Cooperatives Shri Siddhartha Jain and Director Shri Mukesh Kumar, Divisional Commissioner and Administrative Secretary Shri Rajesh Prabhakar Patil, MD Omfed Shri Vijay Amrit Kulange, Registrar of Cooperative Societies Shri Siddhartha Kumar Das and many senior officers of the state government were present.
This training has been organized by the State Cooperative Department with the help of OKCL (Odisha Knowledge Corporation Limited), which will be imparted to 5400 employees of 2700 societies in the state at each block level for 40 days. Through this program, the employees of the societies can perform their work more efficiently and provide better services to the farmers.
Key highlights of the meeting:
Progress in PACS Computerisation & RCS Office Computerisation. Operationalisation of new PACS/LAMPCS.
Execution of World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan. Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Jana-Aushadhi Kendras & CSCs through PACS. Diversification of PACS/LAMPCS into multi-purpose service centres.
