KARACHI, July 21: The First Women Bank’s branch in Lyari is being shifted to some other place in the city, it is reliably learnt.

The sources said the shifting decision was taken by higher banking authorities who claimed that the bank had gone become bankrupt. But representatives of the people contested the claim.

Established in 1991 after a great deal of efforts of the area people, the FWB bank has been providing facilities to the poor of the locality.

It was inaugurated in 199i by the then president of the FWB, Akram Khatoon, in Chakiwara area. Initially, the Lyari Development Project (LDP), a local NGO, had offered its library room for the bank branch and later it was shifted to a newly-constructed building.

The president of the LDP, Abdul Rahim Moosvi, said the bank had been functioning successfully and the people, particularly womenfolk of the area, had been greatly benefiting from the banking facilities.

He said the decision had caused a great resentment among the people, particularly the womenfolk, as the bank’s shifting would create problems for them.

“Most of the account holders are schoolteachers, local bodies employees, recipients of Zakat, and womenfolk whose bread-earners are working in the Gulf states who have also their accounts at the bank.”

He contested the claim about bankruptcy, saying the number of account holders in PLS was 4,500 and in current 1,500.

The Chairman of the Baloch Ittehad Tehrik, Abid Husain Brohi, also criticized the decision.