How sex workers in Bengal lost their lives' savings to chit funds

Kolkata: Dreams of a better life turned intoa nightmare for several sex workers in Kolkata’s largest redlight district Sonagachi, who lost their lifelong savings in ponzi schemes which promised to double their money.

“I had invested two lakhs a year ago on the promise ofdoubling the money in three to four years. Initially I wasgetting interest in time, but since January this has stopped,“says 30-year-old sex worker Aparna.

Aparna, is not alone. Thousands of sex workers inSonagachi have lost their lifelong savings by investing in ponzi schemes similar to the fate of thousands of investorsallegedly duped by the Saradha Group and other chit funds.

[caption id=“attachment_740611” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sex workers hold a rally in Kolkata. AFP.[/caption]

“Near about 40 to 50 per cent of sex workers in thered light district have lost their life’s savings by investingin Saradha and other chitfunds,” says Bharati, a member ofDurbar Mahila Samanaya Committee, an NGO working for sex workers.

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“As of now we are aware that about Rs three crore hasbeen lost by sex workers,” Bharati claims.Earlier, sex workers used to keep their money at the UshaMultipurpose Cooperative Society, better known as Usha Bank,formed in 1995 with the help of Durbar.

Of the 19,000 sex workers in the state, 15,000 in themetropolis had accounts with Usha Bank.Till 2004-05 it was the only bank where sex workers deposited their earnings and took loans for higher educationof their children and home loans.

“For the last one decade Usha Bank was the only bankwhere sex workers deposited their money. In the last financialyear the turnover of the bank was Rs 16 crore,” says ShantanuMukherjee, a senior official of the bank.

But since 2005, chit funds with their lucrative schemesstarted operating in Sonagachi.According to Mahasweta, an official of Usha Bank, thelucrative ponzi schemes and high rate of interest attractedsex workers to invest their money.

“Thousands of sex workers who invested in these chitfunds are now crying because they have lost all their money inthese ponzi schemes,” Mahasweta says.According to Mahasweta, in 2005, some bank agents andcollectors were found to be working for chit funds who luredsex workers to invest in high risk financial schemes.

Around 7-8 agents were sacked by Usha Bank, but theycontinued to operate in the red light area.“Sex workers were easily trapped because the agents were well known to them or were their relatives. So the factor ofinvestor confidence was quite high,” Mahasweta says.

She says that initial inquiries among sex workersrevealed that two agents collected Rs 1 crore and Rs 25 lakh.“Sex workers who maintained accounts in Usha Bank hadwithdrawn their money and invested in Ponzi schemes,” she says.

Asked why Durbar did not take action, Bharati says, “Wehad repeatedly issued warnings to sex workers and asked themnot to invest. But you can’t stop anyone if somebody is hellbent to invest her hard earned money in schemes promising muchhigher returns.”

The Durbar has recently launched a massive awarenessprogramme in the red light area to educate sex workers aboutthe consequences of investing in Ponzi schemes

PTI