Mangaljit Rai commits to accelerate cooperative movement in Sikkim

KUNAL RAI

GANGTOK,: Mangaljit Rai on Wednesday took oath as the new chairman of Sikkim State Cooperative Union (SICUN) at the SICUN complex, Assam Lingzey near Ranipool.

Rural Development & Co-operation minister Arun Upreti was the chief guest while Forest minister Pintso Namgyal Lepcha and Melli MLA NB Pradhan were the guests of honour for the swearing-in function.

Also taking oath on the occasion as the SICUN vice-chairman was Purna Prasad Sharma and the newly elected board members.

The ceremony also witnessed the oath-taking ceremony of the newly elected board members of SICUN into their respective roles.

Co-operation secretary Gloria Namchu Lepcha administered the oath of office to the newly elected chairman, vice-chairman and board of directors of SICUN.

In his address, the Rural Development minister congratulated the new SICUN chairman, vice-chairman and board of directors. With the new board, we look forward to having new ideas and activities for strengthening the cooperative movement for Sikkim’s overall development, he said. He urged the new SICUN board to take the cooperation movement to the grassroots level and usher in positive changes in the society.

The minister assured to take up the demands and proposals made by the SICUN board of directors to the State government on a priority.

Addressing the gathering, the SICUN chairman thanked Chief Minister PS Golay and the Rural Development & Co-operation minister for their faith in him and the board of directors for carrying forward the cooperation movement in Sikkim.

“I have spent about 22 years in the cooperative movement, not just in Sikkim but at the national level under various capacities. We feel the cooperative movement can be a part of ‘Sunaulo and Samriddha Sikkim’ vision of the Chief Minister and make it a success,” said Rai.

The SICUN was registered in 2002 but till date, it has only 325 registered societies as its members, though there are about 3779 societies across the State.

Our priority would be to increase the registration of societies as SICUN members as it is the apex body of all the cooperative societies in the State, said Rai. He requested the establishment of Multi-Purpose Cooperative Societies (MPCS) in every ward.

There are around 1147 wards in Sikkim and we seek formation of MPCS in all these wards so that our programs reach out to the grassroots level for the State’s development, said the SICUN chairman. He also requested a corpus fund for SICUN with the vision of developing the union as self-sustainable and also giving back to the government. We also plan to develop a Sikkim Cooperative Youth Wing under SICUN with a view to engage the youth towards the cooperative movement, he added.

Co-operation secretary Gloria Namchu Lepcha said the event was a historic occasion as it was for the first time in SICUN’s history that the newly elected members are taking oath of office. The department is excited as the new office-bearers would definitely lead the organisation to new heights of progress, she said.

She encouraged the cooperatives and MPCS to take membership at SICUN, as it is an APEX organisation that provides various skill training and educational programmes, further helping them create more opportunities in income generation.

The ceremony was also addressed by the Forest minister while the SICUN CEO Phadung Bhutia presented a brief report on the election procedure of the SICUN board of directors.

It was informed that the new SICUN board of directors will hold their office for a period of five years.