Mumbai, May 12 (PTI) Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday announced that a committee will be formed to recommend changes to the Cooperative Societies Act and a panel will be set up to strengthen the functioning of cooperative institutions.

Fadnavis said the state government would explore avenues that may allow well-performing cooperative banks to manage government accounts.

Speaking at a public function, the chief minister said, “We will set up a committee to recommend changes in the existing Cooperative Societies Act, and another committee will be formed to study and give recommendations to the state government on how to strengthen existing cooperative societies.” He noted that nearly 50 per cent of the cooperative societies in the state were cooperative housing societies, and the state government has introduced changes and improvements in regulations governing them.

Fadnavis said the government has been supporting self-redevelopment projects in the housing sector, and various types of concessions and services are being provided to housing societies who wish to go for self-redevelopment.

He also spoke about potential support from the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) to such housing societies.

“Earlier, the NCDC only functioned in rural areas. We discussed this with Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah to introduce changes. Once the NCDC gets an exemption for funding self-redevelopment projects, it would help society owners get finance at concessional rates from the NCDC,” he explained.

The chief minister cited international recognition of Maharashtra’s cooperative model and said that the World Bank, in its recent report, has expressed its satisfaction with the performance of primary agricultural cooperative societies in the state. PTI ND ARU