Building of India’s first cooperative society at Tirur in Tiruvallur district to be restored

Building of India’s first cooperative society at Tirur in Tiruvallur district to be restored

Plans to restore and conserve a building belonging to India’s first cooperative society, started at Tirur in Tiruvallur district, are nearing completion. The No1. Tirur Primary Agricultural Cooperative Credit Society, which was started for farmers on August 22, 1904, continues to function, having expanded its operations.

The original single-room stone structure, with wooden rafters and Mangalore tiles, is in a dilapidated condition and will be restored. “The original structure will not be disturbed. It will be conserved as it is,” said Registrar of Cooperative Societies N. Subbaiyan, who inspected the building.

“It was announced in the Assembly. A small meeting hall and a museum tracing the history of the cooperative movement would come up adjacent to the old building. We plan to take trainees to show them the building and teach them the history of cooperatives in the country. We will also have a part of their training at Tirur,” he said.

The society, which is in Tiruvallur taluk, provides loans for crops and agricultural implements, loans which will be offered without interest if repaid within 11 months, loans against jewellery, working capital loans for rearing milch animals and loans to SHGs. “It also runs six fair price shops,” said T. Shenbagavalli, Joint Registrar, Cooperatives, Tiruvallur. It has a total of 3,007 members, of whom around 200 are active. Currently, it has provided loans worth ₹1.38 crore. “We used to function out of another old building on the campus, which used to serve as a fertilizer godown. But last year, we got a new building, which seems to have encouraged more people to come to us,” said S. Elumalai, secretary of the society.

Another member said the society was in profit partly because of milk farmers repaying loans on time. “They supply milk to Aavin’s Kakkalur dairy. A milk collection centre with a bulk milk cooler would do well here,” he said.