HYDERABAD, Dec 13: The Sindh Abadgars Board (SAB) on Thursday appealed to the Federal Finance Minister Syed Salman Shah to stop the Zarai Taraqiati Bank from auctioning off lands of poor growers and give them some time to be able to pay back loans.

In a communication addressed to the minister, a senior office-bearer of the board, Mehmood Nawaz Shah, drew his attention to the bank’s advertisements appearing in national dailies about auctioning of defaulters’ lands and said that the bank should give an opportunity to the creditors.

He said that the board had always persuaded the creditors to pay back loans on time and also supported the bank action so that people did not take undue advantage of the facility but the action should be across the board and without any discrimination.

He informed the minister that the growers had received a serious setback due to heavy losses in major crops like cotton, paddy and sugarcane. The cumulative loss in the province came to Rs26 billion in paddy, Rs28 billion in cotton and Rs7 billion in wheat mainly because of undue delay by sugar mills in the start of crushing season, Mr Shah argued.

Besides, the mills’ refusal to pay government-fixed Rs67 per 40 kilogramme of sugarcane to the growers had further aggravated the situation, leaving them unable to pay back debts, he said.

He urged the minister to get the bank reconsider its decision to auction lands and demand payback when the growers were in a position to clear them.

The action appeared particularly ruthless in view of the fact that many public banks in recent past had written off hundreds of billions of rupees of some defaulters, he remarked.