AGARTALA, December 22 (TIWN): The dirty politics on curbing Chit fund companies in Tripura that has come under the limelight recently has no way brought or will bring a hope of light for the deprived depositors who were largely looted by the state govt. licensed chit fund companies here. The multi-crore ponzi scam, commonly known also as chit fund scam, has triggered a sense of dismay and exposed the vulnerability and helplessness of depositors in Tripura. The reasons for such easy swindling of depositors’ money by charlatans were not far to seek: ignorance of gullible people as also the sheer greed and rapacity — an offshoot of rampant consumerism – on the part of many educated individuals keen on becoming rich overnight.

An oft-heard complaint is that both the ruling party is not very serious about protecting the interests of naïve and credulous depositors who have been defrauded of their hard-earned money by fraudulent ponzi firms. While the ruling party is careful about protecting its image by insisting that the party or its government had nothing to do with the scam now as the ruling left front govt. as part of their duty and under immense pressure seeks CBI probe on it, the Opposition is seeking to derive political mileage out of it, according to the left ministers.

Money laundering was certainly the name of the game for many investors. This is the process of concealing the source of money obtained by illicit means, though such money appears to have been derived from legitimate sources. And Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar’s program attend with the Rosevalley, Waris and Saradha chit fund companies proprietor has made it crystal clear that Manik Sarkar has left no stone unturned in providing trade license to the chit fund companies in the state Tripura.

What makes the story interesting is that when the opposition Congress here in Tripura came down heavily on the left front govt. over failing to curb the chit fund tension that prevailed; on the other the visibly angry Minister Badal Chowdhury said that Sudip Roy Barman’s allegations were tantamount to madness in the veil of politics. “We are confident that people of Tripura are far from gullible to such madness” he said.  When the opposition, which on Monday last alleged Chief Minister Manik Sarkar of being involved in Saradha scam and demanded CBI to arrest him, on the other the state govt. came under heavy fire.

 It is mentionable here that even when one of the Chit fund company named as Waris Pvt. Company Ltd. letters to the state govt. seeking permission to sell its assets and repay the depositor’s money, the Tripura Govt. had failed to take any necessary steps on it till today, with the left front govt. now on a race to safeguard their own images. The state government furnished all 37 cases on 24 non banking financial companies to the CBI, but to mention here the CBI had accepted only 5 cases and the prime chit fund companies – Rose Valley, Waris and Saradha was made out from their lists of investigation. And this again makes it clear that the state govt. had failed to figure out relevant details of those chit fund companies.

However, to mention here the burning issue of the chit fund company here in Tripura now might have brought another black day for the all time standing tall left front govt.

The real lesson from the chit fund scam is not just that law was weak but regulators were sleeping. There clearly are holes in the state govt. system which these men took advantage of. Regulators stuck to the narrowest possible definition of their role, instead of focusing on what really helps the people drawn into such schemes.