Tripura to have 300,000 cooperative societies in 5 years: CM Manik Saha

Around 3 lakh cooperative societies will come up in Tripura over the next five years, Chief Minister Manik Saha said on Tuesday, as he urged such organisations to take the lead in generating employment opportunities in the state, especially for women.

Besides floating new cooperative societies, the weaker ones will be revived through fund infusion, he said.

We are also planning to form more multipurpose cooperative societies in the days to come Since government jobs are limited, the LAMPS (large area multipurpose societies) and PACS (primary agricultural credit societies) should take take the lead role to generate employment opportunities for lakhs of people, especially women, Saha said at an event here.

The chief minister also said banks are now liberal in providing loans to different SHGs, LAMPS and PACS for boosting the rural economy.

At present, around 8 lakh people are engaged in 56 LAMPS and 2,112 PACS in the state.

Saha appealed to the cooperatives to maintain transparency in their operations, and regularly furnish financial statements to officials concerned.

This would facilitate timely audits to ensure transparency in the system, he said.

The CM said the cooperative movement gained momentum after the Ministry of Cooperation was constituted in 2021, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the helm.

We must adopt innovative ideas so that this movement flourishes in Tripura, he added.