Margao: Thousands of depositors of the crisis-hit Madgaum Urban Cooperative Bank and the Visionaries Urban Cooperative Credit Society continue to have no clarity on when they will get their money back, with govt telling the assembly that repayment of a large chunk of the dues hinges on recovery of outstanding loans and the outcome of pending litigation.Replying to a legislative assembly question tabled by Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, cooperation minister Subhash Shirodkar furnished slab-wise data on depositors of the two Salcete-based financial institutions who are yet to be refunded.According to the reply, 50,758 depositors of Madgaum Urban Cooperative Bank with deposits up to Rs 5 lakh each, involving a total of nearly Rs 200 crore, are still awaiting refunds. Another 843 depositors with deposits above Rs 5 lakh, amounting to around Rs 85 crore, are also in the queue. Govt did not indicate a cut-off date for these refunds, stating that funds would be sourced through loan recoveries and sale of the bank’s own assets.The situation is bleaker for depositors of the Visionaries Urban Cooperative Credit Society. As many as 10,447 depositors with deposits up to Rs 5 lakh, totalling Rs 42 crore, and 105 depositors with deposits above Rs 5 lakh, amounting to Rs 7 crore, remain unpaid. The minister’s reply stated that it was “not possible to indicate a definite date” for repayment of the entire deposits, as this depended on recovery of outstanding dues and disposal of pending legal proceedings.To identify sources of funds for repayment, govt has listed immovable properties owned by the Visionaries Urban Cooperative Credit Society.The two institutions have been at the centre of a prolonged depositor crisis, with liquidation and recovery proceedings dragging on for years even as thousands of account holders — many of them small depositors — remain locked out of their savings.
