New Delhi, July 25 (FN Bureau) Less than a week after the Centre launched the Sahara refund portal, almost 7 lakh people have registered on it and many more are putting their documents in order as they are hopeful of getting their money back. The Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS)-Sahara Refund Portal was launched by Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on July 18 to facilitate the process of refunding the money that depositors had invested in four cooperative societies of the Sahara Group. As of this afternoon. a total of 6.8 lakh people have registered on the portal, out of which 2.84 lakh have given their Aadhaar numbers for verification. As many as 18,442 claims have been verified. Of the total claims, 97% are for amounts under 40,000 and 87% are for amounts under 10,000. The claims in the under-Rs 10,000 category amount to 150 crore. Among the people getting their documents in order is 55-year-old Saraswati Devi, who says she is hopeful of getting her money back for the first time in eight years. “I had lost all hope. I have been living all alone since my husband died. I was facing a lot of problems, but now I am hopeful.”Ashok Kumar had also saved every penny and invested it in Sahara, thinking he would not have to borrow money for his daughter’s wedding.
“Almost 4 lakh is stuck. I am hopeful after the launch of the portal, but I will only believe when I get the money.” As per government data, 2.76 crore people like Saraswati Devi and Ashok Kumar had invested their hard-earned money, adding up to 80,011 crore, in the four Sahara cooperative societies. Most of the investors are from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Nearly 85 lakh people who invested 22,000 crores in the four cooperative societies are from Uttar Pradesh, government data shows. And, according to complaints registered on various forums, around 55 lakh people from Bihar had invested almost 15,000 crore. Government officials said the initial focus is on ensuring that small investors get their money back. “The Government is facilitating the entire exercise and we are hopeful that each and every investor will get every penny back. Nearly 97% of depositors have invested less than 40,000 and the focus of the government is to ensure that small investors get their money back,” a senior government official told NDTV. In March the Supreme Court had ordered that 5,000 crore be transferred out of the ‘Sahara-SEBI Refund Account’ to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies for disbursement against the legitimate dues of the genuine depositors of Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies.