India to get first cooperative sector airline, says Kerala CM Satheesan

Kozhikode(Keralam): The Keralam government has granted permission to the Kerala Civil Aviation Development Cooperative Society to launch flight services, Chief Minister V D Satheesan has said

The CM, speaking after inaugurating the silver jubilee celebrations of the Calicut City Service Cooperative Society here on Sunday, said that flight services will be started "for the first time in India" by the cooperative sector.

The project will be spearheaded by MVR Cancer Centre Chairman C N Vijayakrishnan, Satheesan said.

"Just like Air India and Indigo, he (Vijayakrishnan) has been granted permission to start an airline by the cooperative sector. A team that made the MVR Cancer Centre and the Calicut City Service Cooperative Society a success will work with him to start it.

"Then we will show the world this is Keralam's cooperative sector," the CM said.

The Chief Minister also said the government would guarantee deposits made by people in the cooperative sector.

Depositors in cooperative banks should receive the same assurance as those investing in nationalised and scheduled banks, he said.

He congratulated the Calicut City Service Cooperative Society for its initiatives in charity and various development activities and said that the cooperative movement was the backbone of the rural and urban economies.

Satheesan further said that the expansion of cooperative societies into more development initiatives signalled progress.

In his address, the CM also contended that the government had infused money into the hands of ordinary people and the poor during this year's Onam season.

When the money entered the market through increased spending by ordinary people, it provided a boost to the economy, he said.

He further claimed that the government recorded its highest-ever revenue last month since the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Satheesan warned that the government would not allow corruption in cooperative societies and said that those who misappropriate the money of ordinary people belonged in jail.