KANNUR: Minister for Cooperation G. Sudhakaran has said that the State Government is trying to restore to the cooperative sector the values it had lost over the last few years.

``Our agenda is to strengthen the cooperative movement in different sectors, including banking,'' Mr. Sudhakaran said, while inaugurating the district conference of the District Bank Employees' Federation, affiliated to the Bank Employees' Federation of India.

Dismissing what he called a campaign alleging moves to disband district cooperative bank governing bodies, the Minister said the Government was planning to involve the cooperative sector in a big way for comprehensive development of the State. ``The Government is planning to draft a package that will address all issues, including the crisis in the agricultural sector and other developmental areas, and the cooperative sector will be assigned a prominent role to play in the implementation of the package,'' he said.

The values of the cooperative sector that had been squandered by the previous United Democratic Front Government would be explored and upheld, he added.

The Minister announced a proposal for writing off agricultural loans up to Rs. 5 lakhs from cooperative banks. The proposal would be submitted to the Government, he added. Slashing of interest rates to 5.5 per cent and 6.5 per cent for agricultural loans up to Rs. 1 lakh and between Rs. 1 lakh and Rs. 6 lakhs, respectively, from cooperative banks was a great step to help the agricultural sector, he said.

Taking a dig at a view expressed by some experts that writing off of agricultural loans of farmers who had committed suicide would encourage a tendency to take their own lives among them, Mr. Sudhakaran said normality was slowly returning to the crisis-ridden agricultural sector after the Left Democratic Front Government had come to power.

Promising transparency in the activities of the cooperative sector, especially in banking, the Minister said that the Government would not allow any misappropriation of resources of the sector.

The State Cooperative Bank was now facing crisis a because of the increase in non-performing assets (NPA) to 23.5 per cent. The Government would examine all factors that led to this increase, he added.

The Minister said the Government would consider the proposal for introducing pension for district cooperative bank employees.

M. Prakasan, MLA, offered felicitation. Federation's district president V.P. Kishor presided over the function.

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