Department of Cooperation, Nagaland launched two cooperative marketing buses (CMB) for Pang and Tamlu villages here at the department’s office premises on Thursday.
The two buses were launched under the Integrated Cooperative Development Project (ICDP), a scheme under National Cooperative Corporation (NCDC) where an area development approach is adopted for development of cooperatives.
During the launching programme, Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies (ARCS), Imsunungsang in the keynote address disclosed that NCDC had sanctioned an outlay of Rs 5,209.98 lakhs in the month of January, 2018, for implementation of ICDP in five districts of Nagaland including Kohima, Tuensang, Longleng, Kiphire and Peren.
He said the department started an initiative, “One village one society” wherein one member from each household in a village was enrolled with the objective to uplift their economic condition. Adding that the department came up with this idea of CMB during the formulation of ICDP, after observing the plight faced by villagers to dispose off their produces profitably or transport essential commodities from the markets due to lack of transportation, Imsunungsang said.
He added that these CMBs were designed by the department with a focus on the carrying capacity where 60 percent will be for passengers and 40 percent for goods and produces.
On these buses all kinds of farm produces including cereal, grains, tubers, vegetables, small and medium livestocks like pigs, goats, poultry can be transported while in the event of lesser goods, the sitting capacity of 17 passengers can be rearranged to accommodate more than 23.
One additional benefit of these CMBs would be that it can be used as “Market on wheels” where farmers can sell their produces without alighting from it, ARCS informed.
A representative from Pang village under Tuensang district, while thanking the department said, the initiative was a dream come true for their farmers as they had been eagerly waiting for the same.
He further disclosed that from their village it took 2 days to reach the state capital Kohima and whether seated or standing, a villager would have to pay a hefty sum of Rs 1,000 as fare just to reach Tuensang town and therefore this new initiative would ease their travelling plights tremendously.
Another person, representing Tamlu village under Longleng district, thanked the department for the initiative and said they faced a lot of problems because there was only one NST reaching the village from Dimapur.
He added that there was very little means of transport from the village and therefore with the new initiative, the department had come to the rescue of the village farmers at the right time.
Earlier, Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS), Nagaland, Tiyongmeren Jamir proposed the welcome address and later handed over the vehicle keys and documents to the two beneficiary villages. The launching programme was chaired by deputy RCS, Bokato Hesso.