Former Biscomaun workers receive their cheques. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, April 29: Financially “sick” Bihar State Cooperative Marketing Union Limited, popularly known as Biscomaun, is finally showing signs of revival.

The cooperative institution, which is mainly involved in the agricultural sector, distributed retirement benefits to 131 employees today.

A total Rs 70.84 lakh was distributed among the 131 employees who had retired over a period of time and were not provided with their retirement dues because of a financial crisis that the organisation experienced in the past few years.

Anirudh Singh, managing director of Biscomaun, said: “The benefits have provided to several employees, from peon to officer-level, as they not given any dues when they retired from their service.”

Singh pointed out that out of 131 persons who were provided with their retirement dues and other benefits, 60 employees were removed from services over a period of time after the institution ran into severe financial crisis.

The managing director of the cooperative organisation said those persons who received their retirement dues had retired prior to 2006.

The cooperative unit is going to organise such type of camps in the coming days, as there are more than 500 persons who have not received their retirement benefits. On every second and fourth Friday of every month such camps will be organised as the cooperative organisation had targeted to disburse all retirement benefits within three to four months.

The managing director also said the co-operative unit had overcome a phase of financial unstability when it was not even able to provide salaries to its employees as there was no support from the government. “Biscomaun has tried to increase its business activities as all 8664 Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society which is working at the panchayat levels and Vypapar Mandal Sahyog Samiti which is working at the block levels has increased its area of activity. The co-operative unit has made a record procurement of paddy this year with a purchase of 6.72 lakh metric tones of paddy, which is above the target of five lakh metric tonnes,” he said.

Meanwhile, the employees who received their benefits were visibly overjoyed. Shivjatan Yadav, one such employee said: “This is a very happy moment for all of us. We have got our dues after a long time.”