Govt should bring cooperative societies like IFFCO under RTI Act

Merinews‎: New Delhi: Friday, September 09, 2016.

It refers to the RTI response from Department of Fertilisers (Union Government) wherein it is revealed that maximum subsidy on indigenous urea amounting to Rs 7080.58 crores is routed in the year 2015-16 through IFFCO out of a total subsidy of Rs 38200 crores routed through all the bodies government, cooperative and private sectors.

The RTI response also revealed that under the NBS policy, MRP of P&K fertilisers are fixed by the fertiliser companies as per market dynamics. There cannot be some other example of such government-aid for profiteering cooperative-giant IFFCO. Significantly, the only other cooperative KRIBHCO ranks second with subsidy on indigenous urea amounting to Rs 2935 crores routed through it.

Both IFFCO and KRIBHCO having built huge empire through initial funding done by government at time of their setting in the year 1967 and 1980 respectively claim for working in the interest of farmers.

But media-reports indicated that IFFCO instead worked in the interest of its executives when the cooperative giant once hit media-headlines for having gifted prime properties worth hundreds of crores in New Delhi to its executives. Only recently former IFFCO chairperson Satbir Singh Kadiyan was arrested by the CBI in an alleged scam.

It is unfair that units getting a route-way for such huge subsidy for profiteering are not accountable to public. To safeguard interests of farmers and misuse of money routed to IFFCO and KRIBHCO in the form of urea-subsidy for benefit of its executives, the central government should declare all cooperatives registered under Multistate Co-operative Societies Act to be covered under RTI Act.

It will also induce transparency in appointments there to prevent dishonest persons being posted in cooperatives.

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