DURGAPUR, 24 APRIL: Officials of Rose Valley Finance, another chit
fund major in the state, today sought police assistance after hundreds
of depositors gathered in front of the office in the posh City Centre
area in Durgapur town today.
Nearly 2,000 depositors tried to
enter the office. Officials informed police and a contingent of
policemen was deployed immediately. The depositors demanded immediate
refund of their deposits.
The company has two offices in Durgapur
and another in Raniganj which collectively used to generate Rs 2.40
crore deposits every month.
Mr Abhijit Majumdar, manager of Rose
Valley’s Durgapur branch, said: “After the Saradha meltdown, depositors
are demanding immediate refund of their deposits. However, this is not
possible since refunds will require a large sum of money which we cannot
provide immediately. This has created a confusion.”
The
authorities, in presence of policemen, managed to refund Rs 3 lakh
against a demand of Rs 5 crore, which the manager said was possible
through their existing buyback system. The authorities, meanwhile, said
they would deduct 25 per cent against one-year-old policy and 10 per
cent against four-year policies or more. In Domohani under the Baraboni
police station area in Asansol police had to provide security to Rose
Valley officials after depositors allegedly threatened to ransack and
loot the office and assault officials. The Raniganj branch of the chit
fund company was however ransacked by irate depositors yesterday.
Saradha fiasco: Adivasi leaders seek CM’s intervention
SILIGURI, 25 APRIL: Several non-banking financial institutions have
allegedly deprived innumerable poor Adivasi tea workers, particularly
whose who had retired in the Terai-Dooars region, luring them with hefty
returns from financial deposits over the past few years.
The
matter came to light after the financial catastrophe over the Saradha
Group in the state. It has incited Adivasi leaders to campaign against
chit funds in the tea belt.
The mainstream Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi
Vikas Parishad leadership has planned to serve a memorandum to Chief
Minister Mamata Banerjee through the district magistrates and other
officials concerned. Splinter ABAVP and other Adivasi leaders belonging
to the Congress and the RSP have also decided to highlight the plight of
the Adivasi tea workers, who were due by chit fund companies that have
mushroomed in the tea belt.
RSP MP for Alipurduar Manohar Tirkey
said: “Though we had campaigned against chit fund companies in the tea
belt, innumerable Adivasi tea workers had been lured by the chit fund
companies, who had cheated them earlier. Despite the fact, several poor
Adivasi people in the tea belt again invested money in private companies
and duped.”
“We would stage a dharna before the Parliament
tomorrow. I would point out the plight of Adivasi tea workers in north
Bengal,” Mr Tirkey said. Dooars-based ABAVP leader Rajesh Lakra said:
“Several retired tea workers, have been deprived after depositing their
money, which they had received as retirement benefits like provident
fund and gratuity, in chit fund companies. After the Saradha fiasco
retired tea workers are upset and spending sleepless night apprehending
loss of even the principal amount.”
“We have planned to serve a
memorandum to the chief minister through Jalpaiguri district magistrate
requesting the state government to take initiative to return the money
that had been deposited in several schemes of chit funds companies,
including the Saradha Group,” said Mr Lakra.
The ABAVP splinter
leader, Mr Sukra Munda, said: “We have alerted our activists to keep a
close eye on representatives of private investment companies operating
in the tea belt. They have been asked to inform about them to the
authorities concerned.”
“We would demand that the private
financial institutions, which are known as chit funds be banned. Both
the Centre and the state should take proper steps to return the money of
the poor tea workers,” Mr Munda said.
statesman news service
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