Pawar calls for amendments to law policy revision to strengthen Maharashtra's co-operative sector

Mumbai, May 12 (PTI) NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar on Monday made a pitch for amending existing laws and revising a policy to strengthen the cooperative sector in Maharashtra.
He said the cooperative sector was earlier synonymous with Maharashtra, but now Gujarat has left the state behind.
Speaking at a symposium on co-operative movement in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari here, Pawar said the government should work on framing a policy and bring in legal changes to strengthen the sector.
"The cooperative sector took shape and progressed with district cooperative banks, sugar cooperatives and cotton ginning mills. The state government has equity in all of these. But most of the sugar mills have been privatised and cotton ginning mills have shut down, except a handful of them," he said.
"There is need to study why this has happened, otherwise the cooperative movement in the state will pass into history," he said.
Gujarat had surpassed Maharashtra in the co-operative sector, the former Union minister said.
The Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank has been revived and was doing well, he added.
"There is a need to study the problems faced by the cooperative sector and the government should look into these issues through policy decisions and amend existing laws," the four-time Maharashtra chief minister said.
"Earlier, the cooperative sector was synonymous with Maharashtra, but now Gujarat had progressed and its cooperative institutions have become strong," he said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)