Mangaluru: Cooperation Minister S T Somashekhar has informed that he will soon convene a meeting of MLAs and officials to discuss and find solutions to problems pertaining to the cooperative sector.

Addressing the party workers at district BJP’s office on Wednesday, February 26, Somashekhar said that there is a need to bring amendments in the Cooperative Act to help the farmers and cooperative societies. “When I interacted with the people in Mysuru and Belthangady, I came to know that certain guidelines prevent people from availing government facilities. Hence, there is a need to bring amendments to the Act. I have decided to take stock of the opinions from the MLAs and officials in this regard and a meeting will soon be convened,” he said.

Commenting on the demand for tax exemption for cooperative banks, Somashekhar said that he would try hard to address the problems of the cooperative banks by placing their demands before Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Earlier, Dakshina Kannada district BJP president Sudarshan M said that even though the APMC yard, located at Baikampady, has enough space and proper infrastructure facilities, traders are not willing to go there owing to certain issues. If the problems of the traders are rectified, Mangaluru’s APMC would emerge as one of the best in the state, he said.

Responding to this, minister Somashekhar said that he will convene a separate meeting of MLAs in this regard and promised to take appropriate measures regarding the same.

Mangaluru South MLA D Vedavyas Kamath, Mangaluru North MLA Dr Y Bharath Shetty,  former MLC Monappa Bhandary, Zilla Panchayat president Meenakshi Shanthigodu, vice president Kasturi Panja and others were present.