BHUBANESWAR: In a startling revelation, state BJP president Manmohan Samal on Tuesday said relevant documents relating to the chit fund scam are missing and the state government is making serious efforts to retrieve them for the refund of money to the depositors.
Addressing a media conference, Samal further alleged that the previous BJD government misplaced the relevant documents after knowing that the BJP was to come to power.
“The previous government began shifting all documents pertaining to the chit fund scam soon after news of BJP’s victory started trickling in. We had to call in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to stop this and it was known to all. The BJD possibly wanted to hide their complicity with chit fund scamsters,” he added.
Asserting that the BJP will keep its promise made in the party’s manifesto that chit fund money will be refunded to the affected people after coming to power, Samal said the government is in the process of collecting the missing chit fund documents and once they are retrieved, a policy decision will be taken for the refund.
Responding to a query, Samal said the BJD should be questioned as to where they have kept the chit fund documents and why have they done so. “I assure all the 40 lakh depositors that they will get their deposits back. Not a single chit fund depositor will be left out,” Samal asserted.
He further assured that the Mohan Majhi government will extend the 11.25 per cent reservation for SEBC students to medical, technical and professional courses in due course of time.
In response to Samal’s allegations, BJD MLA Arun Sahoo said the BJP government should take the responsibility and not shift the blame to the previous government. “Refunding chit fund money to the affected depositors was part of the BJP’s election manifesto and now that they are in power, it is their duty to deliver,” he added.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had informed in the budget session of the Assembly that a guideline is being prepared for refund of money to the depositors who were defrauded by the chit fund companies. The Justice MM Das Commission probing the chit fund scam had recommended the state government to refund the money of 4,97,844 small depositors. The state government has refunded deposits amounting to `45.69 crore to 96,464 beneficiaries.