Totagars’ Cooperative Sale Society (TSS) Ltd at Sirsi in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka has launched a new scheme to clear the debt of the member in the society in case of his/her death.

Ravish Hegde, General Manager of TSS Ltd, told BusinessLine that the death of a farmer brings innumerable hardships to his families in many of the rural households. In many cases, the family members of the deceased remain directionless if the farmer has loans in the cooperative institutions.

Understanding the gravity of this problem, TSS Ltd has launched a fund for its members. Under this, the co-operative collects ₹1000 as the contribution from the member for every ₹1 lakh of loan. A member can contribute up to ₹5000 for loans up to ₹5 lakh.

In the case of the unfortunate death of the member (suicides are not part of this scheme), the family members of the deceased member will not be in trouble as the loan amount up to ₹5 lakh (depending on the member’s contribution to the fund) gets cleared by the fund.

He said the scheme was launched in April this year. Around 4,000 members of TSS Ltd have enrolled for this scheme in the last four months. The co-operative has disbursed claims up to ₹28 lakh in around 10 cases till now, he said.

Apart from the members’ contribution, TSS Ltd is also making annual contribution for this fund.

Stating that the members should be active in the society to be part of this scheme, he said they should have sold areca nut to TSS Ltd for the past three years to opt for this scheme.

The co-operative with more than 30,000 members, which is located in Sirsi of Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka, primarily deals in the procurement and marketing of areca nut and pepper in Uttara Kannada district.

Apart from procuring these commodities from the members and marketing them to consumers, TSS Ltd takes care of the other needs of its members such as their medical treatment and purchase of household items. It has its own hospital and a supermarket in Sirsi town.

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