Thousands of people, who have been allegedly cheated by various chit fund companies in the State, staged a protest here on Wednesday.
Raising slogans against the numerous companies that have duped them, the victims demanded that the State government punish the companies involved in the scam and ensure refund of their amount.
The government should immediately collect data at the block level to know how many people have lost their money in various companies.
The properties seized by the police so far should be kept under a property valuation and management authority under the Finance Department, the agitators demanded.
The demonstrators demanded that instead of harassing the agents of different chit fund companies, the government should take measures to arrest the heads of the companies and their senior officials.
The agents can be made approvers as they had sufficient evidence about the manner in which the companies duped lakhs of innocent investors, they said.
The new Bill to deal with the cases involving chit fund companies, which had been sent to the President for assent, should be made public without delay.
The Bill had been passed in the State Assembly without discussion, they alleged.
The demonstration was organised by Aarthika Samsthamanakadwara Kshatrigrastanka Milita Mancha, Odisha. About the State government’s recent announcement about creation of a corpus fund of Rs. 300 crore to help victims of the scam, the protestors said that no formal notification in this regard was issued so far.