Small farmers and growers have warned the government of launching province-wide protest drive if it did not stop the process of merging Punjab Provincial Co-operative Bank Ltd (PPCBL) into Bank of Punjab (BoP).
Addressing a joint news conference at Lahore Press Club, representatives of Co-operative Union including Mian Anwar Pasha, Khalid Waseem Advocate, Malik Imtiaz Shahid, Rana Muhammad Sharif, Pir Habib Bukhsh and others said that the PPCBL has been serving the small farmers for the last 100 years and is considered a "farmers' friendly bank."
It is the only bank providing loans up to Rs 200,000 without any collateral/security and always followed the instructions of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in this regard, they pointed out.
The last provincial government, however, initiated the process of merger of this Bank (Registered under the Co-operative Societies Act) into BoP, which is tantamount to murder of small farmers of the province, they said. They claimed that a 'mafia' conspired to get stop fudging of the bank from SBP.
Due to the stoppage of funding by the SBP, the PPCBL left with no choice and reluctantly discontinued lending through its all farmer-friendly schemes, they added.
They said that all farmers associations were against such unfair steps and protesting against it. The steps will finish the International Co-operative Movement from Pakistan, as PPCBL was the only surviving Co-operative Bank in Pakistan, they said. They also demanded of the newly-elected government to immediately stop the process of merger of PPCBL into BoP otherwise protest drive against the move would be launched.