Rs 53 cr okayed for computerisation of 1,789 agricultural credit societies in Himachal

Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri yesterday said that Rs 53 crore had been approved for the computerisation of 1,789 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) in the state.

He said that in the first phase, the computerisation of 870 PACS had been completed. In the second phase, 919 PACS had been selected for computerisation. So far, Rs 22.18 crore had been spent on the development of these societies, he added.

Agnihotri said, “To strengthen and modernise the cooperative sector, a comprehensive computerisation programme has been launched to ensure greater transparency, efficiency and accountability in the functioning of these societies.” He added that taking swift measures to connect cooperative societies with a digital and transparent system.

He said that as public money was involved in these societies, transparency in their operations was of utmost importance and also to curb embezzlement and irregularities. He added that this initiative was not just about technical upgrades but was a significant step towards building social trust and improving economic governance.

Agnihotri said that to strengthen the audit mechanism of these societies, 30 master trainers had been appointed to provide training to auditors in the state. The target was to complete the audit of all cooperative societies by 30 September, he added.

He said that 1,153 PACS were being developed into Common Service Centres (CSCs) where over 300 digital services such as Tele-Law, Telemedicine, pensions, certificates and banking services would be made available. He added that to further improve transparency, the cooperative societies in the state were being linked to the National Cooperative Database to enable their Geographic Information System (GIS)-based monitoring and enhance transparency in administrative decisions and policy-making.