NGOs press landslide victims for loan repayment

Thousands of Rangamati residents have lost their everything in a series of deadly landslides on June 13 that killed at least 120 people and forced many to move to shelters in the district town. District Disaster Control Management officials say 2,900 people are staying at 19 shelters and that the district administration had been providing them meals twice a day. Despite their situation, various non-government organisations (NGO) are pressing them to pay loan instalments. Their representatives are visiting shelters to try to force the victims to pay. Kaniza Chakma, 28, staying at Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) shelter, said she had taken Tk70,000 loan from Brac and had already paid several instalments. “I lost everything – my business and my house – in the landslides. The loan collector came today (Wednesday) for Tk4,000 instalment but how am I going to pay?” she asked. Susanta Chakma, staying at the same shelter, told the Dhaka Tribune that she had taken Tk60,000 loan from Brac several months ago to renovate her house. “I am yet to pay three instalments and the landslide destroyed everything,” she said. Kaniza and Susanta lived in Biddanagar Colony of Paschim Muslim Para under Vedvedi area, badly hit by the landslides. Twenty-six families of the colony are now living in a six-room quarter of Roads and Highways Department opposite the BADC. An army official at the BADC shelter, declining to be named, said a loan collector frequented the place and pressured the victims for money. “We have informed the shelter's monitoring official about the matter after receiving complaints from the victims,” the army official said. Anumita Chakma, a loan collector for Brac, was seen in the act at the Roads and Highway shelter. “We are aware of the situation,” she said. “But what can we do? We have been ordered by our higher ups to continue collection.” Rangamati's Assistant Commissioner Sayed Mahbulul Haque Bahlul, the BADC shelter monitoring official, dubbed the NGOs inhuman. “It is unfortunate that they pressurising the victims instead of providing them relief,” he said adding that he would inform his superiors about the situation.