Boost for Budget Shop spread

Anjana Samarasinghe

BUDGET SHOPS: The Ministry of Cooperatives and Cooperative Development has established 32 Budget Shops through the Colombo South Cooperative Society.

The Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Cooperative and Cooperative Development L. Fonseka said the Government has provided Rs 60 million through the Department of Cooperatives for these shops. Now we are in the process of negotiating with societies in Maharagama, Battaramulla and Kaduwela to establish more Budget Shops in the Colombo area, Fonseka said.

Ministry expects to establish Budget Shops all over the country and proposals have been made to set up a budget shop in Gampaha as the first shop outside Colombo.

These Budget Shops have been established to control retail prices of consumer goods at and provide goods at concessionary rates for consumers. The Coop Federation supplies the consumer goods for these Budget Shops and government has granted a Rs 50 million bond for the Coop Federation to supply the goods. These budget shops are set up through cooperative societies in the country.

Deputy Commissioner, Department of Cooperatives, S. Sakalasooriya said that Government expects to provide funds for the Multi Purpose Cooperative Societies (MPCS) to implement their proposals.

Most of these MPCS are strengthened by the Provincial Committees and it is important to strengthen these committees. As a first step department expects to launch a programme in Monaragala to uplift these societies through committees, he said.

There are nearly 306 MPCS in the country and one MPCS has nearly 60 cooperative shops.