Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi will launch a membership campaign September 1 to expand the state’s cooperative footprint in the state, an official statement said Sunday.
Through the membership drive ‘Sambandha’, the Cooperation Department aims to enrol at least one person from every rural household, facilitating cooperative services at the doorstep and improving rural livelihoods, while Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) and Large-sized Adivasi Multi-Purpose Cooperative Societies (LAMPS) will distribute dividends to their members for the first time in the state, it said.
Alongside the campaign, a new mobile application will be introduced to make digital membership registration seamless and transparent, the statement said.
Multiple cooperative projects will also be launched during the occasion.
In the initial phase, over 3 lakh beneficiaries across 180 PACS and LAMPCS will receive a total dividend of Rs 14 crore.
Additionally, the state government, as a shareholder, will receive Rs 4.22 crore, which will be reinvested into the development of the cooperative sector, the official statement said.
To bolster the rural economy and support dairy farmers, the chief minister will virtually inaugurate 21 milk collection centres, taking the number of such facilities to 76.
The PACS and the LAMPCS are being developed as agro-service centres to ensure that small and marginal farmers have access to affordable, rented modern agricultural equipment, the statement said.
Altogether, 50 such facilities are scheduled to launch Tuesday.
Majhi will inaugurate 46 centres to supply essential goods at affordable rates to rural consumers, alongside 200 common service centres (CSCs) to deliver various government and non-government services.
To improve transparency and operational capacity, 200 PACS will be integrated into the National Level PACS Software (NLPS) Tuesday, with the rest to be onboarded by the end of the financial year, the statement said.
Majhi will lay the foundation stone for four model mandis and three warehouses. He will also distribute appointment letters to 30 candidates selected for the Odisha State Warehousing Corporation (OSWC), it added.