CHENNAI: With more than 57,000 members not repaying their loans on time, the State cooperative housing department has not been able to pay salaries for over 1,000 employees for the last several months. The cumulative salary amount pending for 1,014 employees is a whopping Rs 55 crore, and the unpaid loans are worth a mega Rs 2,839 crore. The department has 737 cooperative societies, of which 537 are in loss. Of the lossmaking ones, 45 are currently dormant.
This has put the State exchequer under undue stress, as it has to pay salaries to employees in the societies. Interestingly, it’s members of the high-income group who owe the most to societies. Of the total outstanding loan amount, members of highincome group owe Rs 951.82 crore, middle-income group owe Rs 880 crore, and low-income group owe Rs 524 crore. The department is now seeking government aid.
Over 57K members yet to repay Rs 2,839 cr worth loans
The cooperative housing department has a two-tier system: an apex federation at State level and primary societies in the grassroot level. The department has divided the State into 11 regions and has a total of 733 cooperative societies of which 565 are in urban and 168 in rural areas. Madurai is among districts with highest loss-making societies. It has 102 housing societies of which 97 are in loss.
This is followed by Salem, where 83 of 102 societies are making losses. The Federation acts as a financing bank for all affiliated primary cooperative housing societies. The idea is to provide a maximum loan of up to Rs 2.5 lakh for economically weaker sections, Rs 6 lakh to lowincome group, Rs 18 lakh to middleincome and Rs 20 lakh to high-income groups.
The department claims to have helped build 11.65 lakh houses at a cost of Rs 4,845 crore. A total of 57,387 members, who had taken loans worth Rs 1,108 crore, are yet to repay an outstanding amount of Rs 2,839 crore, including the interest component. “As recovery is low, money is not sufficient to meet the salaries of employees of the primary cooperative societies across regions.
As a result, salaries are not being paid,” said an official source. Employees working in 356 societies are yet to be paid their salaries. While the department is seeking government aid to adjust the loan against the pending claims to be settled by the Federation and to convert the balance amount as share capital which will be paid from 11th year onwards, there are also plans to revamp the department by liquidation of non-viable societies and amalgamation of potential viable society with viable society.