Dhaka: Over 1.88 lakh cooperatives are playing a crucial role in developing the country’s economy and agricultural development, said Local Government and Engineering Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain.

In a cheque distribution ceremony on Thursday at Engineers’ Institution Bangladesh auditorium, the minister said that centralised activities of these cooperatives are also helping in alleviating poverty in the process.

During the programme, he informed that waived agriculture loans taken by farmers worth Tk 425 crore have been subsidised, out of which Tk 134.27 crore has already been issued to Bangladesh Rural Development Board.

Regarding the impending union council elections, he added that any individual can participate in the elections, as his party believes in democracy.

Among others, chairman of Bangladesh National Cooperative Federation for Rural Development Israfil Alam, secretary of rural development and cooperatives ministry MA Quader Sarker and more were present during the occasion.