Micro-credit collectors still threatening cyclone-hit debtors

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Dozens of cyclone-hit micro-credit debtors and their families in Barguna fled their homes in fear of the angry loan-collectors, reports bdnews24.com.
Many villagers alleged that the NGO-workers threatened to remove the tin-sheet roofs off their houses. Some were allegedly threatened with arrest.
Some NGOs earlier said that they had suspended loan repayment collections.
But, the villagers alleged that ASA, a micro-credit organisation, had launched a programme in the cyclone-hit areas to mobilise loan repayments.
However, ASA president Shafiqul Haque Choudhury, a former adviser to the caretaker government, said on Nov 24 that his organisation had also postponed repayments.
"No NGO-worker came to the village in the first week after the storm. They started coming in the second week to collect loan repayments," a local debtor said Thursday.
She said that she took Tk 8,000 in loans from Grameen Bank three months ago, and bought her husband a rickshaw. She also bought a cow for Tk 8,000 with money from an ASA-loan with a weekly repayment installment of Tk 200. The cow did not survive the storm, and the rickshaw was sold to collect money for procuring food.
She fled home fearing the NGOs' wrath, saying an NGO-worker asked her to take fresh loans to repay the previous loans. She also alleged that the NGO-workers threatened to take the tin-sheets off her house in the event that she failed to repay the money. Rina now lives in a roadside thatched shanty.
ASA workers had said, they would come today (Saturday). On the other hand, Grameen Bank workers asked her to attend a meeting Monday, where the date to start her loan repayments would be fixed through discussion.
Another borrower also described a similar tale. She took a Tk 8,000 loan from Grameen Bank to build a house, and a Tk 8,000 from ASA to buy her husband a rice-thresher. The cyclone destroyed her home. The thresher was broken.
Meanwhile, the ASA local manager said, the NGO is now giving interest-free loans to help the cyclone-distressed people. He also denied allegations that the NGO is disbursing loans in order to secure previous repayments and interest. "This money is being given to the people to buy rickshaws or build houses. Repayments on this loan will start three months later," he said.
Another ASA branch manager also said, collections on previous loan repayments had been suspended indefinitely. The official said, that 50,808 people received micro-credit in the district.