By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, June 4, 2021: The finance government on Friday launched a website for duped chit fund investors to claim their refunds online. The online facility would benefit the applicants during the Covid-induced lockdown and weekend shutdown as they no longer need to visit the local tehsil offices to apply for the refunds manually.

As part of the Odisha government’s 5-T initiative, finance minister Niranjan Pujari virtually inaugurated the website (www.opid.odisha.gov.in) in the presence ofThe finance government on Friday launched a website for duped chit fund investors to claim their refunds online. The online facility would benefit the applicants during the Covid-induced lockdown and weekend shutdown as they no longer need to visit the local tehsil offices to apply for the refunds manually.
the finance secretary Ashok Meena and other officers for online submission and processing of the claim applications under the Odisha protection of interests of depositors (in financial establishments) Act-2011.

“The applicants, who are not tech-savvy, can visit their nearby Mo Seva Kendras to get their applications filled. The online platform will help the concerned government officers to identify the genuine victims, verify the credentials of the applicants and process the applications quickly,” a senior finance department officer said.

In the first phase, the duped depositors of Hitech Estate and Promoters Private Limited and Rajdhani Systems and Estate Private Limited can submit their claim applications for refunds between June 4 and 19.

For identification of duped chit fund investors and disbursement of refunds, the state government had on July 9, 2013 set up a judicial commission with justice R K Patra as head of the commission of inquiry. Justice Madan Mohan Das had taken charge of the commission on February 5, 2015 following the death of justice Patra. However, the inquiry commission has been lying dysfunctional since its tenure expired on February 4, 2020. The commission had unsuccessfully requested the government for an extension of its tenure.

The commission had received 8.86 lakh affidavits from small investors (those who had deposited Rs 10,000 or below) in the first phase. In its seven interim reports to the government, the commission had recommended compensation for 4, 97,844 small investors while naming more than 450 sham companies for duping these victims.