PM’s relief package

The News - PESHAWAR: Farmers and landowners in Swat have expressed dissatisfaction at the loans write-off and remission facilities under the prime minister’s relief package and sought its readjustment.

One of the landowners, Muhammad Saeed told The News that Zarai Taraqiati Bank Ltd (ZBTL) had written off the loans of some farmers in Malakand division under its own formula, while other commercial banks had waived off non-agriculture loans in the division under a uniform rule.

To provide relief to the conflict-affected areas of the NWFP and tribal areas Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani at the Kissan Convention 2009 announced a relief package for remission and write-off of small farmers’ loans, both farm and non-farm. Under this package all agricultural loans of small farmers having outstanding balance as of June 30, 2009 in Swat, Buner, Shangla, Dir Lower, Dir Upper, Malakand and Chitral districts in Malakand division were written off.

Saeed said it was on record that not a single farmer had suffered in Chitral and not more than one to five per cent have suffered in the rest of Malakand division, but their loans have been waived off, while those affected badly by militancy and subsequent operation by the security forces in Swat were not allowed to avail the facility.

“The first category consisted farmers who had mortgaged more than 13 acres of their landholdings while the second category was of those who had mortgaged less than 13 acres of their landholdings. 

Farmers in the first category were declared big farmers, and those in the second category were adjudged small farmers irrespective of their landholdings in the revenue record,” he said. Saeed added that farmers should be declared big or small on the basis of their total landholdings in the revenue record, not because of the portion of the land they mortgaged to the ZBTL. 

He claimed that under this formula the farmers who suffered a lot due to militancy were deprived of their right to loan write-off. Meanwhile, the Community Rights Movement, a civil society organisation, urged the government to include the loanees of the Khushali Bank in the relief package and direct the bank to write off their small loans. 

About 10 office-bearers of the organisation told The News that majority of the loanees of the Khushali Bank were poor from the militancy-hit Malakand division and had received Rs10,000 loans. They said the government should include them in the beneficiaries of the prime minister’s relief package.