Bhubaneswar: Facing difficulties in returning money to the people duped by chit fund companies in Odisha, the ruling BJP Tuesday claimed that the documents relating to the fraud are not available with the government.
The party blamed the BJD, which ruled the state for 24 years till 2024, for this.
“We had promised the chit fund affected people to return their hard-earned money after coming to power. Accordingly, the process has started. But the government is unable to find the documents to carry forward the process,” BJP state president Manmohan Samal told a press conference.
He, however, said that the BJP government is committed to return the chit fund money to the affected depositors in the state.
“Only 11 months have passed since the BJP government came to power. We will certainly fulfill our promise. We have four more years in hand,” Samal said.
The BJP state president also blamed the previous BJD government for the fraud and alleged that the documents relating to the chit fund scam were taken away in trucks between June 4 and June 11 last year, a week before the BJP took over.
BJP leader Mohan Charan Majhi was sworn in as the chief minister June 12, 2024.
Samal said efforts are being made to find the documents, following which a policy will be made to return money to the affected people.
“We will certainly return the money to around 40 lakh people who have been duped by the chit fund companies,” Samal said.
Responding to Samal’s statement, the BJD called the BJP government “inefficient.”
“It is the responsibility of the state government to arrange documents and return the money. There is no point in blaming others or shifting responsibilities,” BJD MLA and former minister Arun Kumar Sahoo said.
Congress MLA Dasarathi Gomang alleged that both the BJP and the BJD governments had no willpower to return the money to the chit fund-affected people.
Jayant Das, a leader of an organisation of chit fund affected people, also rejected Samal’s claim of non-availability of documents.
“There are various ways to return money to the affected people. Let the government have the desire to return money as promised to the people before elections.” Das said.