1 week Ago By Bijoy Pradhan
BHUBANESWAR: Carrying forward the efforts to expand the business activities of primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACS) and large area multipurpose cooperative societies (LAMPS) beyond traditional credit-lending to farmers, four PACS in the state have opened Jan Aushadhi Kendras under Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana. The Cooperation department had identified 150 PACS for opening Jana Aushadhi Kendras, of which apart from the four operational ones, 100 others are in the pipeline. Similarly, the department had identified 13 PACS for distribution of petrol and diesel.
One cooperative society in Sundargarh district has already obtained a dealership from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and has started fuel distribution. The remaining societies have applied for licenses and will start operation as soon as they obtain it, sources in the department said. With a total of 4,253 PACS including the 1,542 multipurpose primary agriculture cooperative societies (MPACS) launched by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on December 25, 2024, the state government has enabled 701 primary societies as common service centres (CSCs) to deliver e-governance services to rural people.
“More than 1,600 PACS have been identified for transformation into common service centres of which, 701 have become functional. The remaining PACS will offer the service soon. The facility will be extended to all PACS,” said joint secretary, Cooperation Sangram Rout.
CSC e-Governance Services India Limited, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) established by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is facilitating activation of PACS as CSCs by organising training camps. Rout said around 20 PACS have expanded their business activities by collecting milk from dairy farmers of their respective localities. Another 200 societies are making necessary arrangements to procure milk.
He said the new products will be added to increase the activities of PACS. After paddy, PACS and LAMPS in millet-growing districts have started procuring the foodgrains. Millets from 73,000 farmers have been procured in the last kharif season.
Around 1,500 PACS are ready to function as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samriddhi Kendras (PMKSK) to provide farmers with easy access to agricultural inputs including fertilisers, seeds, pesticides, and other services under one roof. Efforts are on to enable around 200 primary societies to undertake fisheries related activities within the next 2-3 months, Rout added..
