BADIN, Sept 9: The Zarai Taraqiati Bank is recovering loans from farmers of the district despite the government directives to postpone the recovery in calamity-hit areas.

The manager, ZTB, Golarchi, reportedly held a meeting with recovery staff on Monday and asked them to recover loans from defaulters.

The people of the Shaheed Fazil Rahu taluka have criticized the bank manager for his attitude and termed the recovery campaign anti-farmers.

This correspondent visited the regional office of the ZTB in Badin on Tuesday where a senior officer said the bank head office had issued a letter to postpone the recovery in areas which had been declared calamity-hit. But he said the Sindh government had not issued any notification about the areas.

He said the loan recovery would continue till the notification regarding calamity-hit areas was issued by the government.

When contacted, ZTB regional manager Shaikh Mohammad Zafarullah said the recovery would be stopped after the Sindh government issued the notification.

He further said loans of defaulters would be rescheduled with mark-up and the defaulters would have to agree to certain bank terms, including payment of mark-up.

Laar Abadgar Association president Abdul Jabbar Gopang opposed the rescheduling of loans, saying it would harm rain victims.

He said the president and the prime minister should honour their promises regarding rehabilitation of the rain-affected people.

He demanded that agricultural loans should be waived off and a fresh loan package should be announced for farmers of the district.

Mr Gopang further demanded that the Sindh chief minister should issue the notification declaring Badin a calamity-hit district without delay.

SURVEY: The survey in rain-hit areas to assess losses to properties is going on at a slow pace despite several teams have been formed for the purpose.