Probe needed into dishing out of ZTBL loans to a selected few

By Muhammad Amin Baloch
The devastating flash floods and slides in Chitral played havoc with the overall livelihood systems of the people. Apart from the huge losses, many precious lives were also lost due to the natural disaster. This year’s disaster was one of the greatest in the known history of Chitral.
After the destruction, all state functionaries came to action and high profile visits were undertaken to the district. Amongst them were Prime Minister, the oppostion leader, Chairman PTI, CM KPK and COAS.The PM during his visit announced a rehabilitation and relief package for the district, including waiving off agriculture loans.
It is a fact that a majority of population in Chitral are small farmers and agriculture is the main source of income generation for them. The current flash flood and land slide have badly affected agriculture in terms of washing away standing crops of potato, wheat and maize as well damaging the irrigation channels. Agriculture has to play an important role in the overall economic growth, poverty reduction, resource management and overall development of the region or society.
Agriculture Development Finance Corporation was established in 1951 with the purpose of providing facilitates to the farmers and promoting the development and modernization of agriculture in Pakistan. In 1957 the Agriculture Bank of Pakistan was established and advanced both short and long terms loans. In 1961 the Agriculture Development Bank of Pakistan was converted in ZTBL (Zarai Taraqiati Bank Ltd), established with the similar purpose. The motto of the bank indicates that it provides loans to the farmers without any discrimination or political influence.
Unfortunaely, in Chitral there seems an adverse swing. During the current visit of Prime Minister to Chitral it was told that very few people have access to the ZTBL and majority of poor farmers get agriculture loans from other financial Institutions including Microfinance, Khyber and HBL etc. Again the same thing was reiterated when Imran Khan visited along with the Chief Minister KPK. When Syed Khursheed Shah came to Garamchashma and met with the affectees, political and civil society representatives strongly appealed him that waiving off of ZTBL loans will give advantage to certain people.
Now the question arises here that why the same bank is denying access to the poor farmers of Chitral to get agriculture loans to improve their livelihoods and what kind of people are benefiting from the bank?
If it is true that specific people on the basis of political influence and using their connections get loans from the bank, it would be a disaster and tantamount to exploiting the basic rights of the citizens. Many farmers from Garam Chashma told ChitralToday that after making numerous rounds to the bank, their hope of getting any agriculture loan came to a dash. But they were surprised that some people get loans any time they wish for any purpose, because they have strong linkages inside the bank.
To bring the truth into spotlight, it is necessary to probe into the matter comprehensively and make sure that such thing will not be repeated in future in Chitral. People hope that Mr. Syed Talat Mehmood, President ZTBL, will himself take action against the perpetrators. They also pleaded to the Prime Minister to order the constitution of an inquiry commission to reach the truth. In case the loans were not given to the deserving farmers as provided in the policies of the bank, the whole waived off loans should be recovered.