Madhya Pradesh Government Push To Hold Long-Pending Co-Op Society Polls

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The cooperative sector in Madhya Pradesh has been struggling with lack of elections in most of its societies, some of which have been pending for over a decade. In response to this growing concern, the state government has started taking action to conduct elections across various cooperative societies.

Cooperative Minister Vishvas Sarang told Free Press that efforts are underway to conduct elections in the cooperative sector, with the process likely to begin in May. He acknowledged that elections had not been held for the past 10-12 years.

There are approximately 55,000 cooperative societies in the state, including about 10,000 dairy cooperative societies. Of these, only 6,000 are operational, while the remaining 4,000 are either defunct or inactive. The government is now aiming to increase the number of active dairy societies to 9,000.

Moreover, there are 4,500 Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACS), but their elections have not been held since 2018. A senior retired officer from the cooperative department said that about one-third of the PACS are defunct, and these societies are currently focused more on distributing ration under the Public Distribution System (PDS) than on providing loans to farmers.

Many PACS are being managed by administrators. Other cooperative bodies, such as the Forest Produce Federation and Milk Federation, have also not held elections for years. The Gwalior Dugdh Sangh is nearing closure, while the Jabalpur Dugdh Sangh is operating at a significant loss.

“In the past, growth rate of cooperative societies was around 25%, but it has since dropped to between 8-10%”, said a retired officer. The issue of pending elections was raised during the budget session of the state assembly, where the government reaffirmed its commitment to holding elections in the near future.