Upset over the inaction of the government for so many months, depositors of the Visionary Cooperative Society had a protest today in Panaji today afternoon demanding swift action from the authorities to act on their complaints.
They also handed over their grievances to the authorities, which were previously reiterated on September 18 when they met in Margao.
Yesterday, the duped depositors had met outside the Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies near Gomant Vidya Niketan in Margao.
This however is not just the first protest, as previously last month the depositors had met outside the same office demanding some action be taken.
This time, however, the depositors were in no mood to pay heed to any request from the large police force that was gathered. Reportedly, on September 18 they met, but since then, the Assistant Registrar has not followed up on anything, resulting in the depositors storming the office entrance again.
The people, in their list of grievances to the authorities, have demanded action on all past officers who held the posts but did not take any action.
Furthermore, they have also demanded that the audits of all the four branches of the bank be completed in the next 20 days.
A large police presence was seen outside Gomantak with DySP Sahil Sarangal leading, along with a large contingent of women police. The police officials requested the people to send in their representations to the Registrar again, but the locals said ‘enough is enough’, demanding the Registrar to meet the depositors in public.
Local MLA from Curtorim Reginaldo Lourenco also stepped in and landed his support to the agitators. The duped depositors also took out a protest rally around the city, demanding swift action from the police, questioning why not a single arrest has been made to date.
“This is people’s hard-earned money. Some are fruit and vegetable sellers, while others are senior citizens and retired persons. We are fighting for our own money itself,” said one.
The entire scene related to the Visionary Cooperative society has been going on for over a year now. The duped investors of the bank had even filed a complaint with the Economic Offences Cell regarding the attempts by the staff of the credit society to flee.
The investors had met the Chief Minister in January this year, who had assured them of all help. The police have stated that they have even lodged an FIR into this case, however, to date not a single arrest has been made.
Accordingly, it is learned that nearly Rs 54 crore worth of investments are blocked in society. The bank, which has four branches mainly in the Salcette area, was accused of duping several investors. To date, none of those named in the case have been arrested, neither have any action initiated to help the depositors get their money back.
Police officials stated that the Registrar has informed them that only one of the four branch audits, i.e. the Lotoulim branch has been completed to date and unless all four are completed, and a report handed over, further investigations cannot procced.
