Chit Funds reappearing across Bengal: Minister

, Mar 3: After a gap of more than a year, the chit fund companies have started reappearing in

, especially in the rural areas, a state minister said today.

Consumer affairs minister Sadhan Pandey said that in the last few months the government had received many reports of their re-emergence in the business.

"We have been receiving complaints from various cross sections of people in various parts of Bengal, especially rural Bengal, since last December. We have forwarded all of them to the chief minister's office," Pandey told PTI.

The recent incidents at Chitpur and Beliaghata in the metropolis and some rural parts, where the duped investors attacked chit fund companies, were the indicators of their return.

"There are both old and new players in the business. On an average, we have received 125 complaints till now," Pandey said. The state government had taken strong measures against chit fund companies after the Saradha scandal broke in March-April, last year, in which lakhs of people were cheated of their hard-earned savings running into more than Rs 2,000 crore.

Following this, the chit fund companies went into a hibernation. In order to curb their reach across the state, the government also started its own savings scheme recently where poor investors can park their funds with full security and guaranteed interest payment.

PTI