Kottayam (Kerala), Feb 22 (PTI) The days of government directly carrying out all developmental projects are over with increasing public participation in the new age, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said here on Monday.

Society at large is implementing a lot of developmental activities, he said after inaugurating a Grameen Samrudhi Store Supermarket of the Ettumanoor Social Service Society (ESSS) in association with the Bharath Agro Processing and Marketing Cooperative (Bamco).

The unit at Ettumanoor near here is Bamcos 36th Samrudhi store in Kerala. The role of cooperative movements in the empowerment of women is invaluable, the Minister said through video conference. Many of the women who won the recent civic elections in Kerala are those who rose through their involvement in cooperative movements, he was quoted as saying in a press release fromBamco.

Ettumanoor MLA Suresh Kurup, inaugurating the showroom, hailed the system where the privileged members are eligible to receive the dividend from running the Samrudhi store. Not only does Samrudhi enjoy public confidence, the supermarket is set to work for the betterment of the people, he said. The 9,000-sq ft Samrudhi store sells groceries, vegetables, milk, stationery and crockery items at affordable prices.

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