Don't amend cooperative act without our nod: NABARD

Kolkata, Apr 4 (IANS) The National Bank For Agriculture And Rural Development (NABARD) said Wednesday it would oppose the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government's move to amend the state cooperative societies act if this was done without its consent.

"If the Bengal government goes ahead with amending the Act without informing us, then we will object," NABARD West Bengal Regional Office (WBRO) chief general manager S. Padmanabhan told mediapersons here.

The chief minister had said in March that properties of defaulters, who had taken loans from the cooperative banks in the state, could not be attached and necessary amendments would be made to the West Bengal Co-operative Societies Act of 2006.

West Bengal State Cooperative Bank (WBSCB) has already slammed the proposed move.

"This is a very serious issue. If the mortgaged properties of the willful defaulters are not attached, then the entire cooperative structure in Bengal will collapse," WBSCB chairman Ashok Bandopadhyay said.

Padmanabhan said if the proposed amendment went against the 'spirit' of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the central government, West Bengal government and NABARD, then the bank would oppose it.

"The state government may write to us. We will see the draft. If the proposed amendment went against the spirit of the MoU signed among the Centre, state government and NABARD, then we will oppose it," he stated.

Meanwhile, the refinance institution said it has provided a total loan of Rs 2784.39 crore to financial institutions of the state and the state government during the last fiscal, registering a growth of over 24.22 percent growth over 2010-11.