One House One Farm project likely to cease this year

Although a committee concerned recommended continuing operations of both the One House One Farm project and the Palli Sanchay Bank till 2020, finance minister decided not to go in that direction, official sources said. Finance Minister AMA Muhith rejected such a proposal from the Coordination and Development Committee of the project and the bank. He thinks keeping the project alive will require amendment of the Palli Sanchay Act 2014, which can be a lengthy process. The committee has recently come up with a number of proposals regarding the development of the Palli Sanchay Bank and One House One Farm project at a meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office. The proposals included keeping the project alive along with the bank for four more years. Principal Secretary to PM Md Abul Kamal Azad presided over the meeting. “It’s not possible to go with the One House One Farm project and the Palli Sanchay Bank together,” finance minister said in response to the committee’s proposal as official records show. He said the One House One Farm project will cease to operate by the end of the year 2016. According to the committee’s proposal, however, a duel management can be created between the farm project and the project associations if the associations are registered with the Department of Cooperatives. A total of 485 branches of Palli Sanchay Bank will open by December, according to the coordination committee’s decision. Last year Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated specialised bank for rural poor Palli Sanchay Bank. In 2014 the Parliament enacted the law to launch it as a specialised bank for the rural poor like the Grameen Bank. The government holds 51% of the bank’s ownership and the remaining 49% go to the 17,300 cooperative societies of the One House One Farm project. According to the Palli Sanchay Bank law, the bank’s authorised capital is Tk1,000 crore and paid-up capital Tk200 crore. The cooperative societies’ total fund of Tk1,342 crore is going to be transferred to the new bank. The bank’s board of directors consist of 18 members, with the chairman to be selected by the government from the board members. Of the total, seven directors are selected from the shareholders from the division level associations of the One House One Farm project, each represented by individuals.