Duped investors protest outside Assembly on Mahatma Gandhi Marg. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, July 31: Investors and agents of various sham deposit collection companies today demanded formation of grievance cells in each block or tehsil to ascertain the exact amount of money collected by these dubious companies.

More than 1,000 protesters, including depositors, agents and base-level employees of these fraud deposit collection companies, staged a protest rally and sat on a dharna on Mahatma Gandhi Marg.

The agitators also shouted slogans against government policies regarding these fraud companies and alleged that some influential politicians were associated with these companies.

“The scam is worth several hundred crores of rupees. So far, the government has only been able to take actions against some major companies involved in the scam. The government should set up 314 grievance cells in each blocks or if possible at the tehsil level so that it can ascertain the exact amount of money collected by these companies,” said Jayant Das, convener of a forum consisting of victims of these fraud companies.

Another protester said that the corpus fund constituted by the government would not be sufficient to return the entire money of all the investors who were duped by these companies.

In the second week of this month, the state government had announced to create a corpus fund of Rs 300 crore to help the investors.

The police have so far registered more than 85 cases against these deposit collection companies and arrested more than 200 employees and owners of such firms.

Among the companies against whom cases have been filed are Saradha Group, Artha Tatwa Group, Swastik India Multi-State Credit Co-Operative Society Limited, Sahara Credit Co-Operative and Rose Valley.

A team of the forum met chief secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra in the secretariat this afternoon and put a six-point demand before him.

The protesters said that they wanted the government to make adequate arrangements for refund of the investors’ money and give a time limit for the refund process.

“We also urged the government to set up an asset management and valuation committee under the finance department to take charge of the seized properties that has been lying with the police. Besides, we wanted the government to take steps so that the bottom line employees of these companies, who are also victims, to be protected from police harassment,” said Rajib Pattnaik, joint convener of the forum.

Besides, they also demanded a stringent law to protect the interests of the depositors and asked the government to seek suggestions from the people before the Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors (in financial establishments) bill gets presidential nod.

The forum members said that the chief secretary agreed to take up three of their demands.

“He assured that grievance cells would be set up at block levels and the base level employees of these fraud companies would not be harassed by police. He also assured us that he would discuss with finance department the issue of setting up an asset management and valuation committee,” said Das, adding that the chief secretary could not give them a timeframe for refund of money as it would take time for the legal process.