“WASN’T THAT A GOVERNMENT BANK?”
Anuska Devi, 55, had planned well for her two daughters, Sony and Pooja. Both are studying in intermediate at Sabour College.
She had plans to get them married marry them after graduation.
She saved ~20,000 in a fixed deposit in Srijan Mahila Vikas SS Limited in 2013 to get double the amount by 2020.
She is not even aware that the organisation where she deposited her money is under investigation and that she might never get her money back. “Wasn’t that a government bank?” she asked, showing her fixed deposit paper wrapped in polythene.
“The money will be due in 2020. Maybe, I will get the money then,” she said.
Many women in her village, Farka, two km from Sabour block office, became members of Srijan’s self-help groups.
Srijan virtually operated like a chit fund company from premises close to the block office to give an impression to gullible village women that it was part of the government. There were photographs of Manorama Devi with top officials at the entrance of the Srijan office to bolster her credibility.
Villagers recall that Manorama Devi’s brother-in-law Sunil was initially very active in drawing women to the SHGs on the pretext that it could fetch them income as well as loans with small deposits.
“I started with just ~30 a month deposit in 2003 and gradually increased it to ~200,” said Sushma Devi, chairman of one SHG. The group also availed loans on its total deposits at an interest of ~1.50 per ~100 per month. The amount of loan would be distributed among those who needed it or equally distributed among all.
Over 500 such groups of 10-12 members operated under Srijan. Each group had a chairman, secretary and treasurer. However, the passbooks and deposit receipts did not mention the word ‘bank’ anywhere while the office, now locked and guarded by security men, had the look and feel of a bank with a workforce of 80 people.
Many women, who took loans recently and were waiting for the due date to deposit the interest and premium, risk losses. “I have received more than what I deposited. If required, I will return the money,” said Guriya Devi, 25, afraid of police action on the depositors.
Usha Devi, 35, said, “We used to get loans when needed. After her [Manorama Devi’s] death, things deteriorated. We went to the Srijan office after we got to now about the problem but returned as he office was locked.” Usha Devi asked if anyone knew the whereabouts of Priya didi (the daughter-in-law of Manoma Devi ). Both Priya and mit, who ran the Srijan airs after Manorama vi’s death, have vanished er the scam broke. The vilers remain oblivious of w the scam reached crores, h the help of the governnt agencies.