The Tripura Protection of Interest of Depositors (In Financial Establishment) Amendment Bill 2016 was today placed for passage and later withdrawn following a debate in the Assembly.
Placing the bill, Finance Minister Bhanu Lal Saha said it would help take stringent measures against chit-fund companies so that they could not deceive common people in the name of giving high rate of interest
The bill was also aimed at stopping entry of such companies in future, he said.
However, Congress member Ratan Lal Nath and Trinamool Congress' Sudip Roy Barman said that the existing acts have sufficient scope to protect the depositors, but what was required was a strong will of the government.
Barman said, many raids were conducted by government agencies earlier against chit fund companies, but their accounts were not frozen and so they were able to flee.
Nath alleged that 114 NBFCs that looted over Rs 5,000 crore from the state had huge assets in the state, but the government did not take any step to seize their properties.
Both Barman and Nath demanded that the properties of chit-fund companies be attached to return the depositors' money.
Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said the amount of money looted by NBFCs was yet to be ascertained by the Special Investigating Team (SIT) set up by the High Court so far.
However, it was established that Rose Valley had cheated at least Rs 97.84 crore from Tripura.
Sarkar said, "We are against chit-fund companies and non banking financial institutions. I would request both finance and law ministers to jointly consult experts to explore the possibilities to take stringent measures against chit-fund companies. I also appeal to withdraw the bill."
The bill was then withdrawn.
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