“Govt’s sloppy regulation also caused current crisis in cooperative sector”

KATHMANDU, MARCH 14: Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Padam Giri, has said that the sloppy regulation on the part of the government is also responsible for the current crisis in the cooperative sector. ” The sector is dogged by problems not only because of the errors of the promoters of cooperatives but also because of the lackadaisical approach of the government towards regulating and supervising such institutions,” he said while speaking at the First Digital Cooperative Conclave. The two-day conclave, organised by the National Cooperative Federation, kicked off today in the capital.

“While the deposits in cooperatives were being rampantly misused by their promoters in things like housing projects, why did the state authorities remain inert and lenient?” he questioned arguing that only arresting the erring promoters would resolve the severe challenges facing the cooperative sector.

According to him, there is now a need to effectively keep tabs on the operations of cooperatives by forming a separate regulating authority like Nepal Rastra Bank.  “Such authority shall leverage technology to the optimum to ensure basic components of good governance like transparency, accountability, etc in the cooperative sector.”