KARACHI, July 28: A women’s bank exclusively established to serve the poor section of Lyari some 13 years ago will now start its operation from Defence Housing Authority area from Aug 1, 2002.

A source confirmed that the First Women Bank’s Lyari branch opened in the Chawkiwara area in 1991 would now start operation from its new office set up at DHA.

When contacted, manager Nadra Tara said: “We are not closing the bank operations, but shifting the office only because of financial reasons. We have already informed the customers about the decision to establish the new office at Sadaf Arcade, DHA phase 1, Korangi Road.”

She claimed that there was a drastic cut in the deposits after the shifting of transport business from the Mauripur Road to Hawkesbay. Moreover, she said, the bank had been facing a lot of problems in loan recovery as a large number of customers had yet to clear their dues. She said the financial condition of the bank was not sound and a financial institution could not run smoothly without better deposits and effective recovery system.

The FWB was inaugurated by the then president of the Bank, Ms Akram Khatoon, in 1991 in the Chawkiwara area. Initially, the Lyari Development Project, a local NGO, had offered its library room for the branch, later it was shifted to a newly constructed building.

President of the Lyari Development Project, Abdul Rahim Moosvi, repudiated the claim of the FWB manager, saying the bank had been functioning successfully and the people, particularly womenfolk of the area, had been greatly benefiting from the banking facilities.

He said it was the responsibility of the bank officials to improve their recovery system and it was amazing that after 13 years the officials of the bank were now claiming that the bank was not running smoothly.

He urged the president of the FWB to review the decision. “If the shifting is necessary, the bank should be shifted to some commercial area of Lyari Town.”