NBP may take years to have its own building

CHITRAL, Jan 2: The private building housing the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Chitral has become the topic of discussion in a section of the local media. The bank was shifted to the private building in November as its old building was demolished for the construction of the Chitral bypass. There was also a complaint in the form of a letter to the editor of a national newspaper that the bank had been shifted to the second floor of a shop. This correspondent during a visit to the bank on Wednesday found that the NBP is housed in a double storey building. The bank has taken on rent the second floor and a portion of the ground floor of the commercial plaza like building. In the ground floor, there are also some shops. When chitraltoday.net correspondent met Mr. Zahirullah, the manager of the NBP Chitral, to know his version on the topic, he said: “We have made temporary arrangements in the rented building after we were asked to vacate the previous building by the government on an emergency basis.” He said the bank management was given three-day deadline to vacate the building and at 10pm on November 16 we shifted the cash to the new building. The next day – Nov 17 – the NBP’s old building was demolished, he added. He lamented the fact that though the government got the old NBP building vacated within three days, so far it could not even floated tenders for the demolition of the Ataliq bridge on the same road. The manager added that before taking the private building on rent, he had visited the whole Chitral town but found no better place building. He said though there were buildings at Balach and Jughore but because of their distance from Chitral town, they were even not considered for taking on rent. Shifting of the bank there would have created problems for our valued customers, he added. He said the present private building was situated near the old building at the centre of Chitral town. Mr Zahirullah said that he had submitted the proposal for acquisition of land and construction of a building for the bank. The bank high-ups have taken up the matter with the provincial government and hopefully the process would be completed soon. Chitraltoday.net also interviewed some of the customers present on the premises of the bank. Masroor Nabi, a retired havaldar of Chitral Scouts, who was standing in a queue on the ground floor of the bank building, said he had come all the away from Terich valley to collect his monthly pension. He said due to rush of people he was facing great difficulty. Syed Mohammad, a 70-year-old retired official of the Border Police from Bomburate, said he found no difference between the old NBP building and the new one. He suggested that a new window should be opened for the  pensioners as they cannot stand in the queue for long duration. Fazle Haq, a theology teacher at GHS, Broze, said he came to draw his salary in the bank but despite great rush of the people the behaviour of the NBP staff with the customers was quite commendable. Abdul Basit, a student of D.Com at the Commerce College Chitral, said he had come from Ovir to make a draft to submit his annual examination forms. He said like the old building the new rented building was not spacious enough to cater to the needs of a large number of customers.]]>