Puducherry Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi directed senior officials of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to conduct audits at cooperative banks twice a year and make surprise visits to the banks to check their functioning.

Presiding over a review meeting of Puducherry State Cooperative Bank (PSCB) at Raj Nivas on Monday, she said the bank should adopt corrective steps to avoid legal issues. The meeting – attended by senior NABARD officials, Cooperative Secretary, PSCB Managing Director and General Manager – follows several complaints regarding the functioning of the bank.

She urged the officials to conduct election to the post of the Administrator of the Bank as per the rules. (No election has been conducted for the post since 1985).

“No loans should be sanctioned under pressure,” Kiran Bedi said. A review meeting would be held in February first week to assess the implementation of the decisions taken in today’s meeting.