West Bengal govt plans scheme for investing public

The West Bengal government will come out with a social security scheme where people can deposit money and get decent returns, CM Mamata Banerjee said.

Kolkata: The West Bengal government will come out with a social security scheme where people can deposit money and get "decent and proper" returns, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday.

"In view of the current chit fund fiasco where thousands of people are duped, the government is thinking of floating a social security scheme where people can safely deposit money and get decent and proper returns after a certain period of time," Banerjee said. She said that the idea mooted by the government will be posted on the website of the Finance Department for getting opinion of the public. After getting public opinion on the scheme, the government would chalk out details and a legislation would also have to be passed, she told reporters at the state secretariat here. Banerjee said that the name of the scheme would be decided later. She said that since people have faith in the government, it would help them deposit money in the proposed scheme and not go elsewhere like chit funds and get duped. The Chief Minister`s rationale behind public putting money in chit funds was that they were not getting the right avenue since the interest rates in small savings were falling. "So they were flocking to these companies promising higher returns and getting cheated subsequently", she said. Recently, the West Bengal government had passed a legislation on chit funds which was signed by the Governor. She said that Finance Minister Amit Mitra and Finance Secretary had met both the Prime Minister and Home Minister for quick processing of the bill in getting the Presidential assent. PTI