Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Jan 30: The district cooperative union has been considering upgradation of security systems in the cooperative banks in the district

The cooperative institutions in the district have expressed concern about an incident in which theft had happened in a cooperative society functioning from a rented building. Theft of lacs of rupees from a cooperative bank has also worried the police department. In this case, glasses of the rear window of the society were broken, iron grills were cut with a gas cutter, locker bolts were opened and cash amounting to Rs 4.32 lac as well as 922.57 grams of ornaments worth about Rs 44.25 lac pledged by customers were taken away.

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Out of over 725 cooperative entities in the district, 322 are milk producers’ cooperative societies which do not engage in banking transactions. As many as 92 Souharda cooperative banks and 322 credit cooperative societies conduct banking transactions. They take deposits and loans for various purposes including gold loans.

The police have alerted the cooperative banks to be careful about fake gold ornaments offered as security by claiming them as original. The police have suggested the ornaments to be cross evaluated by other jewel appraisers for their genuineness once in six months.

District cooperative union president Jayakar Shetty Indrali, noted that cooperative banks offer better services as compared to nationalised banks. He said that a meeting of all the cooperative banks will be called for and they will be advised to scrupulously follow security rules as per the Reserve Bank of India guidelines. District superintendent of police N Vishnuvardhan too said that a special team is working to arrest the thieves relating to thefts in cooperative banks. He said a meeting of bank presidents will be convened to suggest to them to check the safety measures and take steps to upgrade them.