May 30, 2007	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 13, 1428

CHITRAL, May 29: No one from the Chitral district has so far taken a loan from the president’s Rozgar Scheme launched by the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP).

Sources in the bank’s city branch said that about 600 loan application forms had been issued only from one branch, but no case had been finalised yet. There are five more branches of the bank in Chitral. However, a local branch has not been authorised to receive and process the loan applications.

Some unemployed young men told this reporter that loan application forms were sent to the Peshawar cantonment branch of the NBP for processing and they are required to go to Peshawar to know the status of their applications.

They said it was very difficult for them to afford the cost of travelling to Peshawar.

They demanded that procedure should be simplified and the local branches be authorised to process the applications.