Abeda Khatun, 27, is a housewife hailing from Kaiccchabari village of Gosinga union under Gazipur’s Sripur upazila. Her husband Kajol Masud is a soldier in the Bangladesh Army.
Arifa Akter is another housewife from the same village. Her husband Dulal Mia has been living abroad for three years. Also from Kaicchabari village, Jyotsna Begum’s husband runs a shop. These housewives are all members of Kaicchabari Gram Unnayan Samity (Kaicchabari Village Development Association) under the Ektee Bari Ektee Khamar (EBEK) project.
A visit to their houses has revealed that none of them had any farm, though they all borrowed Tk10,000 in the beginning and then Tk20,000 from the association for the purpose of setting up a farm.
However, another member, Kajol of Karnapur village, was seen successfully running a poultry farm. She said: “Each of the 59 members of the association took Tk10,000 as loan but never paid back. There was a complication among the committee of the association.”
There have also been allegations of discrepancy in selecting members of the association. Rickshaw puller Abul Hossain said, he could not be a member of the association despite being on the primary list of 120 people.
Chairman of Gosinga Union Parishad Asaduzzaman said, the number of members in the association could not be more than sixty as per the directive of the upazila officer. Members of the union parishad selected the members of the association.
Maleka Begum, manager of Bashbari Gram Unnayan Samity of Sripur’s EBEK project said, her husband was also a member of the association. Mafiz Uddin works at the training center of Ansar VDP in Gazipur.
It has also been observed that members like Suruj Khan, Helija Khatun, Hafeza, Anwara Khatun, Safiuddin and Mainuddin and many others had no farm in their houses.
Maleka Begum said, there were 59 members in the association but only five or seven had farms in their houses. They all took Tk5,000 in the first phase.
In the second phase, only a handful of people repaid their loans. Moreover, there had been no meeting of the association as loan defaulters stay away from meetings.
