Thiruvananthapuram: Minister for Cooperation V N Vasavan on Thursday said that 164 cooperative societies are incurring losses and are struggling to return money to their depositors. His reply came in the state assembly to a query raised by KK Abid Hussain Thangal MLA.

The minister said that Thiruvananthapuram district has 32 cooperative societies suffering losses, followed by Kottayam with 22, Pathanamthitta-Alappuzha with 15 and Kollam-Malappuram with 12. 

The question was raised in the assembly concerning the death of a depositor of Karuvannur Bank. A depositor, Philomena, died on Tuesday after the scam-hit bank refused to provide Rs 30 lakh invested by the family in the bank for her treatment.