Southern States - Kerala   

Coop. bank set to scale new heights

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI MAY 14. The change of administration at the Ernakulam District Cooperative Bank in the elections on May 4 has come as a shot in the arm for the cooperative movement in the district.

With deposits of Rs. 872 crores and advances of over Rs. 450 crores, the district cooperative bank is the richest in the State. The outcome of the fight for the control of the bank has underscored the fact that the cooperative movement is alive and well.

The bank's new president, M. M. Monayi, said in a chat with The Hindu today that the bank's members `voted across party lines' to give the panel led by him a thumping win.

He said that the bank looked to a bright future with new opportunities opening before it and claimed that the support that had been received by the bank's governing board from the members has put it on the growth path.

The victory has been sweeter for the LDF panel because Ernakulam is known as a UDF bastion. Even with the UDF in power, it had not been able to convince the members of its efficacy in governing the apex cooperative bank.

By a rough calculation, of the 688 votes that were expected at the election, 370 votes should have gone to the UDF panel. However, of the 639 votes that were actually cast, the UDF bagged only about 200 panel votes.

It was a measure of the popularity of the LDF panel that even a significant number of the administrators' delegates who cast their votes, plumped for the UDF panel.

In the background of the circumstances that led to the election, the margin of victory was significant, says Mr. Monayi. The key issue that figures in the pre-election campaign was the inclusion of primary cooperatives in the list of voters.

A total of 515 votes had been included in the list under this category and this was expected to go strongly in favour of the UDF.

The May 4 election was one of the most fiercely contested ones in the recent history of the bank which was under the UDF rule for about 25 years till 1987.

In May 2002, the board of directors of the bank with Mr. Monayi at its head was dismissed under the Kerala Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2002.

In his new stint at the bank, Mr. Monayi is hopeful that the bank would be able to continue the works it had been doing in the past. A cooperative development fund, social development funds and suitable loans for the poorer sections of the society will be some of the areas on which the bank will focus on other than its normal banking activities, said Mr. Monayi.

Mr. Monayi dismissed allegations that were raised prior to the election. According to him, the antecedents of the parties to whom the loans were extended had been looked into and proper documentation had been done to ensure that there would be repayment.

With competitively low level of non-performing assets, the bank had nothing to fear, he said.

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