Project report on business expansion by Thiruvithamcore Cooperative Society submitted for financial recovery

Thiruvananthapuram: Thiruvithamcore Cooperative Society has submitted a project report to the cooperative department regarding measures to be taken to overcome the financial crisis faced by the society.

The report seeks consent from the department to provide gold loans to individuals and business loans to small-scale traders. "Giving small business loans to traders will help boost revenue generation. At present, we are running a chit fund, with the consent of the department. The new report was given as part of the measures to expand business for revenue generation," said MS Kumar, president of the society.

The previous panel headed by Kumar was dissolved due to irregularities as the society fell into a financial crisis. The depositors filed police complaints after they stopped receiving interest and they could not even withdraw their money. A probe was initiated by police and the cooperative department following complaints.

Following this, as part of measures to resolve the financial crisis, the society authorities sought the support of the cooperative department to recover loan arrears from defaulters. According to them, nearly 1,200 people defaulted on loans worth Rs 10,000 to Rs 25 lakh. As many as 1,200 applications for arrears recovery proceedings (ARP) have been sent to the cooperative department to initiate measures for revenue recovery.

The society also sought permission to re-auction its 1,600 sq ft building and 3.5 cents of land at Sreekanteswaram. In the previous auction held on April 9, 2024, there were no bidders and the society sought a new date from the department to hold the auction again.

"Lack of participation could be due to less publicity and we have taken measures to give more publicity this time. We expect to generate Rs 2.5 crore through the auction and the amount will be fully utilised for clearing the depositors' money," added Kumar. He said that deposits worth Rs 80 lakh were given back to over 50 people in three months after the new panel was formed.