CHITRAL, July 22: The decision of the provincial Board of Revenue (BoR) not to treat the year 2001-02 as officially-declared drought period in respect of Chitral has caught the farmers of the district unawares.

President Musharraf had announced before the presidential referendum to write off the small loans the farmers had obtained from the Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan (ADBP) in the drought-hit districts.

Accordingly, the provincial BoR declared Chitral district one of the affected areas but only for the year 2000-01 which means that more than 1,000 small farmers have been denied the relief.

Sources in the office of the Regional Manager of ADBP, Chitral region, told Dawn that the decision to declare an area drought-stricken solely rests with the BoR. The district government has, however, requested the BoR to reverse its decision and extend the officially-recognized drought period up to 2001-02.

The sources said that Rs91.5 million loan was to be written off of more than 1,000 small farmers. The decision of the senior member of BoR seems to be illogical which didn’t take into account the ground reality as the intensity of the drought reached its zenith during the year 2001-02, the sources claimed.

Heads of cattle had perished in thousands and wheat crop was destroyed completely.

In the upper part of the district, the inhabitants of two villages had migrated to the riverside as the springs had gone dry and water sources had exhausted.