Chandigarh, Sept. 26 -- Chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday said the state government has decided to lift restrictions on the creation of new cooperative societies, including milk and labour societies. Mann said the state government is in the process of formulating its own state cooperative policy. The aim is to make cooperatives a central pillar of Punjab's rural and economic development, a statement quoted Mann as saying. He said previous instructions of preventing registration of a new society, where one already exists, rigidly defined areas of operation, and imposing a minimum distance (like 8 km for labour societies) were against the spirit of the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act, 1961, and the very idea of the cooperative movement. Mann said these conditions discouraged voluntary participation and created monopolistic situations, limiting the choice of members. Registration of new societies will be carried out strictly as per the Act, without artificial barriers, he added. HTC...