State mulls doing away with DCC banks: GTD opposes

Bengaluru, March 30: State co-operative federation president and MLA of Chamundeshwari Constituency G. T. Devegowda vehemently opposed the state government’s pondering on doing away with DCC banks across the state.

Speaking to media persons at Chitradurga on Wednesday Mr. Devegowda said that 13 DCC banks in the neighbouring Kerala were on the verge of bankruptcy and they have been recommended to the central government for revival. However, the DCC banks in the state are not facing threat of bankruptcy and have been providing quality service and it cannot be compared to similar banks in other states, he said.

It is PLD bank and DCC banks which are majorly providing hassle-free financial assistance through loans to farmers and agriculturists. Apex bank is run as per the directions of NABARD. Enforcing two-tier system (co-operative banks and Apex banks) instead of three-tier system (co-operative banks, DCC and Apex banks) is detrimental to farmers’ interests.

Centre is trying to meddle with the Karnataka’s co-operative sector too on the lines of merging of various banks. When banks were nationalized in 1969 by Indira Gandhi several commercial banks came forward to extend loan facility through agriculture service co-operatives. But, they were not long lasting and sustained only for six years. Later, DCC banks had to come to the rescue of farmers. Let us not compare the co-operative sector to any states. Let the existing system be allowed to continue in the state, appealed Mr. Devegowda.

A memorandum will be submitted to Union Home Minister who also holds the portfolio of co-operation Amit Shah in this regard during his visit to state on April 1.

Instead of supporting and helping co-operative sector, the Union government is only making all efforts to hold power. It failed to waive off taxes. The intervention of RBI is rampant, he alleged.

Do not spoil the cooperative eco-system which is being run with the help of fixed deposit money from the depositors. Let the guilty be punished. He opposed the announcement of Co-operative Minister ST Somashekar on possibility of dowing away with DCC banks.

Speaking on the issue of Hijab and amendments in text books about Tippu Sultan he asked if the children ever asked for any change in academics. Tippu is history. Let us give priority to living legends. Is there a need to accord so much of media attention to make changes in text books, he questioned.

If the state tries snap polls then the results will not be in favour of BJP. This experiment failed when S.M. Krishna was the chief minister of Karnataka, he felt.

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