Mamata asks people to keep away from chit funds, says `govt won`t be responsible for compensating`

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday urged people to refrain from parking their hard-earned money in chit funds and said the government had no responsibility to compensate them if they lost financially in their endeavour.

"Some people are coming to us with complaint that they have lost money by parking it in chit fund schemes. Why have you done so?" said Banerjee.

The state had been rocked by the chit fund scam in 2013 when the Saradha Group and several other deposit-seeking firms which had lured people by promising higher returns, went bust, ruining lakhs of investors - mostly from rural areas - across the state.

The chit fund scam has since then been a major political issue in the state.

Banerjee, however, said the chit funds had reared their heads during the erstwhile Left Front regime.

"They had started from the 1980s. But now I would appeal to the people with folded hands, don`t park your money in chit funds. The government will not be able to return the money. It is not the government`s responsibility," she said.