Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Saradha chit fund mess: Quick-rich dreams lie crushed -Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay

Saradha chit fund mess: Quick-rich dreams lie crushed -Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Apr 23, 2013   modified Modified on Apr 23, 2013
-The Times of India


DAKSHIN BARASAT (South 24-Parganas): Every other house in this part of Bengal has a rags-to-riches-to-rags story. Saradha Group showed them a dream that was unbelievable when it lasted. But then reality struck a hard, bitter blow.

Sixty-year-old Dulal Chandra Gharami walked back home tense on Monday afternoon. He was summoned to the Trinamool Congress office at Beliadanga, where he was asked to cough up protection money.

For last four days, Gharami, a devout Vaishnavite, is being hounded by depositors. His liability stands at Rs 2 crore. He has somehow kept the depositors appeased. But it is hard to keep the parties at bay.

Till a few weeks ago, Gharami was an inspiration - or envy - to Beliadanga residents. He made a whopping Rs 1.8 lakh a month.

Beliadanga, a sleepy mofussil, had never seen such magical transformation until the chit funds came along. Sixty per cent residents here are still dependent on agriculture, 10% are in trade and 30% in services. Thanks to diminishing returns from the agriculture, almost every farmer turned a depositor, if not an agent. So did the traders, including small vendors. Even tea-sellers queued up with daily deposits of Rs 10. Associating with Saradha meant pursuing a dream at Beliadanga.

With the dream getting busted, the collective liability of Beliadanga stands at no less than Rs 10 crore. The inflation in deposit has hit residents harder than they ever thought.

And Beliadanga is only a microcosm of Dakshin Barasat.

There is hardly any home at Dakshin Barasat with its population of 40,000 people, that has not invested in Saradha Realty. This area alone has 2,579 Saradha Realty agents. It is the biggest unit under the Baruipur 'regional office', where Saradha's chit-fund journey began in 2008. Even Saradha owner Sudipta Sen was aware of it. So when the cheques bounced, he made it a point to come to Dakshin Barasat to pacify the frayed nerves of the agents on February 3.

Saradha brought sudden prosperity to many residents of this part-rural-part-urban pocket. Tapas Haldar, who was a roadside mechanic, made barely Rs 3,000 a month. He couldn't believe it when he started making Rs 50,000 a month as a Saradha agent. He bought a motorcycle that he had only dreamt of earlier.

Bharat Adhikary stopped going to his grocery shop as Saradha gave him room to think big.

"But we never realized that our dreams would come crashing down so fast. We cannot go back home for fear of being lynched," said Mahadev Mondal, who became a chit-fund agent before his BSc results came out. He did not think of any other vocation as people around him seemed to be getting richer just by depositing money with Saradha.

"The CMD's (Sudipta Sen's) hobnobbing with ministers and MPs only reassured the depositors as well as agents. There was no dearth of funds. On December 31, we got a deposit of Rs 1.8 crore at the Dakshin Barasat branch in a single day. We spent the whole night just arranging the cash and counting them. The Baruipur area office handled nearly Rs 6 crore that day," said Uttam Pyne, whose liability stands at Rs 25 lakh.

"The entire Dakshin Barasat today looks like it was hit by a cyclone. Every home has a bankrupt depositor or a fugitive agent. People who were friends have turned enemies. Happy households have become miserable. Students have stopped going to school. Traders have lost interest in opening shutters," said Biswarup Mukherjee, an interior designer.

There is a sense of treachery that has replaced the warmth of a neigbourhood, he said. "I am neither an agent, nor a depositor. But my friends are. Suddenly everything has become vicious," Mukherjee sighed.

The lure of big returns was so overpowering that Monidip Chatterjee, an agent, parked his entire home loan amount with Saradha. Now he just stares at the TV screen blankly. He has stopped talking or eating. Monidip was expecting the chief minister to spring some hope for them. But there was nothing in the CM's speech on Monday. Monidip looked crushed, silently.

Kalam Sardar, Sahabudin Sardar and Sabana Biwi scream on the streets to get their life's savings back. They know it's useless. "We do not want to listen to any other excuse. When they (agents) took money from us they promised us the moon. Now they are showing us the hell when we want our money back," said Renubala Sardar, a vegetable vendor from Saligaria, who has lost Rs 23,000.

"We put our faith in Saradha only because of the government. Sudipta Sen kept telling us that he has solid backing of the government. When we visited the Salt Lake headquarters, we used to see doors with nameplates bearing the names of ministers," said Gharami. "Now all is lost."


The Times of India, 23 April, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Saradha-chit-fund-mess-Quick-rich-dreams-lie-crushed/articleshow/19686286.cms


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close