Coming down heavily on the State Government for not taking any concrete steps in ensuring refund of depositors’ money duped by various chit-fund companies in the State, the Arthik Sanstha Mananka Dwara Kshyatigrstanka Milita Manch, an organisation of the duped depositors, staff and agents of dubious private finance companies, staged a massive demonstration in front of the State Assembly here on Wednesday.
Shouting anti-Government slogans and holding placards, the depositors of various chit fund firms like Seashore, Artha Tatwa, Flourish India and Sai Pragati coming from across the State blasted Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik alleging that his presence along with some of his Ministers with chit fund company chiefs in several programmes motivated the common people to invest their hard-earned money with these fraudulent firms.
“The Government’s role regarding return of depositors’ money is not at all satisfactory. Despite our repeated appeals, the Government is yet to prepare any detailed database regarding depositors who have been cheated by these companies throughout Odisha,” said Manch convenor Jayant Das.
The protestors demanded establishment of special grievance cells in each of the 314 blocks of the State where the cheated depositors could register their complaints.
Blaming the Government for the cheating by the dubious private finance companies, which had been provided licences, Das argued that it is the duty of the Government to assure return of the money.
If the Government fails to consider these demands by September 9 then the Manch would resort to a State-wide ‘Demand Week’ agitation from September 10 to 16, he said.
The protestors too demanded immediate stopping of the ongoing arrest of agents of dubious chit fund firms, stating that the agents had only acted as per the directions of their authorities.
Arguing that police cannot make proper assessment and safeguard properties of
the chit fund companies, they demanded that the seized
properties be handed
over to the State Finance Department, thereby ensuring refund to depositors within a timeframe.