Guntur: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy distributed cheques to AgriGold depositors at a public meeting held at Police parade grounds here on Thursday.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that he had seen the problems being faced by the AgriGold victims during his Praja Sankalpa Yatra. He had promised to resolve their problems on coming to power, and now after fulfilling the promise, “I stand before you”, he said to the elated crowd. Though the case is pending, he said the state government was making a payment of Rs 263.9 cores to 3,69,655 AgriGold victim-depositors who have deposits of less than Rs 10,000 with the company, in the first phase.
The government has allocated Rs 264 Crore in its first budget for AgriGold victims which was used to make payments in the first phase, he said. Very soon, the government would make payments to depositors who had deposits less than Rs 20,000 in the second phase, he assured.
Time Extended
After becoming Chief Minister the first decision I took was to make payments to AgriGold victims, in the first cabinet meeting”, he reminded. Jagan also extended the time frame for AgriGold depositors who have not filed applications for their claims. He said that within 30 days the victims, through the Legal Services Authority, could file applications. They can file applications through the Collectorates, MROs, Village Secretariats also.
It may be recalled that AgriGold Company had collected Rs 6,380 crore from 32 lakh depositors from seven states by offering attractive interest rates and land through its network. The company failed to provide money or land to the depositors. After realizing that they were created by the company, the depositors approached the previous TDP government which did not respond. AgriGold victims organized protests across the state. They had appealed to YS Jagan, who was at that time conducting the Praja Sankalpa Yatra, and he assured them of support and promised to pay the victims who lost money in the scam.(NSS)