Chit fund victims to get back money

The wait is finally over. Over one lakh duped depositors of Saradha chit fund company are likely to get compensation before Durga Puja. This was announced by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday in Jhargram in West Midnapore where she chaired an administrative meeting. “Nearly 1,000 victims will receive their compensation cheques on September 30 at a programme at Khudiram Anushilan Kendra. The state government will try to give compensation to one lakh people before the pujas,” Ms Banerjee announced. She reiterated her charge that the chit funds mushroomed during the three-decade Left Front rule. “We had allotted a '500-crore fund to provide compensation to the duped people of the Saradha scam. The judicial commission (set up to probe the scam and prepare a list of victims) has made recommendation that we can start paying compensation to the victims,” she said. Ms Banerjee added that apart from these 1.10 lakh people, three to four lakhs Saradha scam victims would be given compensation after Kali Puja or Diwali, which falls in the first week of November. After the collapse of the Saradha Group, lakhs of poor people who had deposited money in its various schemes lost their life’s savings. Many in despair committed suicides.