VELLORE: The Department of Cooperatives has decided to disburse `304 crore as farm loans for the year 2014-15 through cooperative institutions as against the previous year’s `286 crore, said Minister for Cooperation, Sellur K Raju while reviewing the performance of cooperative institutions in Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts here on Friday.
He said steps had been taken to provide fertilisers through cooperative societies to the farmers in a hassle-free manner.
Through the Cooperatives Department, loans worth `2.75 crore were disbursed to differently-abled persons this year. The chairpersons of the cooperative societies have been advised not to miss the eligible beneficiaries in this regard, he added.
In Vellore district, 1,724 ration shops are functioning which received ration items from nine godowns and about 8.85 lakh ration cardholders receive rice free of cost. As many as 43 new buildings had been constructed for ration shops in the past three years. The performance of the ration shops was being monitored by flying squads.
A mobile van scheme has been introduced in Yelagiri Hills to cater to the needs of the people and a farm loan of `74 lakh had been disbursed to farmers this year. The small millet Samai, grown in hills, was also being marketed in plains through the cooperative outlets, the minister added.
For the cooperative printing society, a modern multi-coloured printing machine at a cost of`53 lakh had been installed. According to the Minister, out of the 2.04 lakh office-bearers elected for the cooperative institutions, 57,000 were women and 33,000 belonged to the SC/ST communities.
District Revenue Officer Balaraman, Joint Registrar of Cooperative Societies S R Venkatesan (Vellore) and V Periyasamy (Tiruvannamalai), district supply officers Pichaimani (Vellore), Kripananthan (Tiruvannamalai), Joint Registrar of Karpagam Cooperative Stores Thriguna Ayyappadurai and Joint Registrar of Central Cooperative Bank Kamatchi, were also present at the occasion.