The Assembly on Thursday witnessed noisy scenes over the chitfund scam with the Congress members disrupting the proceedings of the House during zero hour demanding a white paper on the matter. The House had to be adjourned for 30 minutes during the pre-lunch session as the Congress members raised slogans in the well.
Alleging that ministers and ruling party MLAs promoted the chitfunds companies which defrauded poor people of hundreds of crores of rupees, Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh alleged that some of them also purchased foreign cars with the money.
BJP state president and senior MLA KV Singhdeo also supported Singh’s demand of a white paper on chitfund scam. “People have right to know about those behind and involved in the ponzi scam,” Singhdeo said. Singhdeo demanded immediate return of money to the poor people who have been duped by the chitfund companies.
Comments made by Ranendra Pratap Swain (BJD) about top Congress leaders triggered loud protests from the Opposition bench. Swain asked whether the Congress leaders had any constitutional position to launch the Food Security scheme of the Centre. Congress members rushed to the well shouting slogans. Though the names of the Congress leaders were expunged, the noisy scenes continued with the members shouting slogans in the well demanding a white paper on the chitfund scam.
There was heated exchange between the Leader of the Opposition and Debasis Samantray (BJD) with the former demanding that some of the MLAs should also be brought under the purview of the inquiry. Without taking names, Singh alleged that an expensive car has been purchased in the name of a driver of a BJD MLA and demanded that this should also be inquired into.
Several other Congress MLAs including Anup Sai and Naba Kishore Dash also supported the demand for a white paper on the chitfund scam. Swain, however, criticised the Centre for not initiating any action as many of the chitfund companies operate in several states. Swain alleged that a law passed by the state government to regulate non-banking financial companies had not got presidential assent for the last four years.