‘Banks harassing bankrupt Kashmir traders to recover loans’

Srinagar: Thousands of families connected with trade and commerce in Kashmir are frustrated as banks and financial institutions have started harassing them with police raids to recover loan amounts.

This comes in the backdrop of the Centre saying that it will send 40 Union Ministers to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir as a mega push for development.

These 40 ministers are scheduled to visit Jammu and Kashmir in March as earlier, in January, 36 Union ministers came here to send a message to the people of Jammu and Kashmir that following the abrogation of Article 370 their lives would turn better.

“But our lives have turned into hell. We have no business and now the banks have started raiding our families and are openly threatening to take possession of our houses if we don’t pay back the loans by March end this year,” said Ashiq Ahmad, a local trader who owns a few lakh rupees to Jammu and Kashmir Bank and works in the information technology sector.

Recently, MPs from Oopposition parties in a meeting of the Standing Committee of Parliament asked Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla questions about the efforts of the government to enhance investment in Jammu and Kashmir in the prevailing security situation.

In a recent flip-flop, the government first announced the schedule to hold local body elections in March, saying that the situation was normal but the elections were deferred by the Election Commission, saying that there were “security concerns”. Partial curbs on the internet imposed by the government are still in force.

The J&K administration released its Information Technology policy to attract investors, and decided to conduct road-shows in different cities to attract investments.

However, the ground situation in Kashmir valley is grim. Traders, not in a position to repay loans, are on the edge due to the financial institutions’ efforts to recover loans from them. Most of the banks, including the Jammu and Kashmir Bank, have told defaulters that they will take possession of their assets if they don’t repay their debts by March end. This reporter met several families, who claimed that recently, some bank officials came to their residences along with the police and harassed the families, asking them to pay back the loans.

“They came at night and asked us to repay the loan amount before March end, or they will take possession of our house,” said Burhan (name changed), a resident of Ganderbal. Such complaints of harassment recently forced all the trade bodies of Kashmir to issue a one-page advertisement in local newspapers, asking the banks not to intimidate them and play with their reputation by naming and shaming them.

Recent raids by bank officials along with the police on several residences in Srinagar and Ganderbal districts have rattled the business community and traders and they are ready for protests if the banks try “to play with their respect and honour”.