NGOs realising loans ignoring monga

At places, borrowers, pressed by NGO employees, take loan from moneylenders at high interest rate and pay weekly installments.

A poor woman, wife of a rickshawpuller in Colony area in Nilphamari town, had borrowed Tk 2000 from TMSS (Thengamura Mohila Samabaya Samity), a big local NGO. She has to pay Tk 125 as weekly installment.

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Last weak, she could manage only Tk 50 to pay the instalment. As the NGO man came to realise the instalment, she requested him to give her two more days' time. But the NGO man kept sitting in her yard till night, not to move without the instalment in full.

Finding no way, she borrowed Tk 75 from a local moneylender at Tk 20 interest for a week and paid the NGO instalment.

She and her poor husband declined to be named, saying they will be in trouble if their names are published.

There are many instances that poor people who took loan from NGOs are borrowing from moneylenders at high interest rates to pay their weekly instalments.

At Fakirpara village in the Sadar upazila, another woman had taken Tk 2000 loan from ASA. She has to pay Tk 55 as weekly installment. Seeking anonymity, she said her poor husband had to sell his labour in advance at cheaper rate to pay the instalment.

The situation is worse in rural areas. Many loan recipients this correspondent talked to said they may starve or remain half-fed but have to pay NGO instalments in time.

Finding no way, poor people are selling poultry birds, goats, cattle, trees and even household utensils to pay loan instalment, they said.

They said they are passing hard days because of mongan (lack of work during pre-harvest period). The loan is now a heavy burden on them at a time when they are struggling to survive. They said the NGOs could suspend the loan realisation during the monga and realise arrears after the harvest.

Grameen Bank, Asa, BRAC, Proshika, TMSS and some other NGO's are providing loan of different amounts to the poor people under their micro credit progra-mme to alleviate poverty.

Visiting different villages, it was found that 70-80 per cent poor people have borrowed money from NGOs. They said they borrowed from NGOs because of crop loss and because they do not get loan from any commercial bank.

Most of the NGOs start realisation of weekly loan without giving the borrowers enough time to begin any income generating activity, some of them said.

They told this correspondent that state owned banks and commercial banks do not give the loan because they cannot show any collateral.

It was gathered that the total number of borrowers from NGOs in the district is more than six lakh and the total loan given them last year was over Tk 100 crore.

Of them, only four NGO's disbursed Tk 26.21 crore loans among 100,800 people.

Some observers said NGOs are getting loans from foreign donors for poverty alleviation but a few of them are doing the right job. Many NGOs have reduced their education, sanitation and other developing programmes and are now simply earning profit by giving loans to the poor at high interest rates, they said.

When contacted, officials of some NGOs admitted that they are have continued the loan realisation despite the monga for the good of borrowers.

They reasoned that if loans are not realised, those will be accumulated and become burdens on poor people.