Lucknow, 21 December. Accusing the previous governments in the state of “ruining” the state’s cooperative sector, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said that the previous governments used to maintain “one district, one mafia” but the present government is moving in the direction of “one district, one cooperative bank”. The Chief Minister said in the ‘Youth Cooperative Conference’ organized here that the condition of the cooperative department was very bad during the rule of the previous governments.

He said, “Remember what was the situation of our district cooperative banks before 2017…. There were 16 banks which were declared bankrupt. The Reserve Bank had confiscated their licenses but now the cooperative banks of Uttar Pradesh are not bankrupt. Now this bank is not sick, it is not only healthy but is also contributing to the prosperity of all its members and every farmer associated with the cooperative.

Adityanath said, “This is what happens when a good government comes. Previous governments used to maintain one district, one mafia. The cooperative sector was ruined due to the mafia rule of the previous governments, the farmers’ capital got stuck.” He said that Rs 4,700 crore of farmers’ money was stuck in the 16 cooperative banks whose licenses were confiscated during the previous governments. He said that the present government led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gradually returned that money to the farmers.

The Chief Minister said, “Today that money has also been returned and the banks are also moving forward doing their work again. Now we are taking Uttar Pradesh forward in the direction of one district, one cooperative bank and we should take it further because this is the need of the day.” Adityanath said that the United Nations said that his government has taken several steps towards strengthening the cooperative sector because cooperation is also a guarantee of mutual trust, social capacity and self-reliance.

He said, “In the last 11 years, we have seen a changing India. How can we use technology to simplify our lives, provide a corruption-free system, through digitization, e-governance and transparent policies, today the action to ensure good governance and accountability in the cooperative sector has also progressed.”

The Chief Minister said that the government has tried that at least half of the fertilizers, chemicals and pesticides distributed in the state should be distributed through resource cooperative societies associated with the cooperative department, but for this, adequate manpower will have to be arranged. The program was inaugurated by State Minister of State for Cooperation J.P.S. Rathore and former Union Minister Suresh Prabhu also addressed.