PESHAWAR, Feb 28: An elderly widow of the Yakkatoot locality is facing eviction from her house, allegedly at the hands of her stepchildren and some officials of the House Building Finance Corporation for a loan she claimed the department had remitted 16 years ago.

Talking to Dawn on Sunday, Husn Zeba said she had borrowed Rs50,000 from the HBFC in 1986 for the house. She said the HBFC zonal manager had called her on Oct 17, 1988, and upon her visit to the HBFC office she was told that the loan had been remitted in her favour by an order of the prime minister.

From 1988 onwards, she said, the HBFC never sent her any notice for the payment of instalments. However in 2001, she added, some HBFC officials in connivance with her stepchildren reopened the file and asked her to repay the loan along with the accumulating interest.

On June 3, 2004, she said, the court decided the case in favour of the HBFC and issued orders that the house be auctioned to recover the loan and interest. She said the HBFC placed an advertisement in a local newspaper on June 10, 2004, that the house would be auctioned on July 12, 2004, which was accordingly held.

However, she pointed out, the officials made a mistake and the advertisement carried the number of another house which was auctioned. When the officials realized their mistake, she said, they started harassing her to evict her from the house. Ms Zeba appealed to the prime minister and the authorities concerned to take action against the HBFC officials harassing her for the past four years.