LUCKNOW:Brimming with confidence, Preeti from Agra greeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for ensuring a loan for her under the SVANidhi loan scheme, which enabled her to tide over the adverse times of corona and lockdown.
Preeti sold vegetables for a living during the pre-Covid times and is now selling fruits on a cart in Agra.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi patiently listened to her experiences and appreciated her efforts to ensure digital payment. He explained to her that she could earn cashbacks and make the loan interest-free.
The Prime Minister on Tuesday was interacting with beneficiaries of the PM SVANidhi Scheme through video conferencing in various districts of Uttar Pradesh.
The SVANidhi scheme was launched on June 1 by the Central government to help street vendors and hawkers resume their work, which had been impacted by the spread of Covid-19 and the ensuing nationwide lockdown.
The Centre launched the scheme to facilitate collateral-free working capital loans up to Rs 10,000 for one-year term to approximately 50 lakh street vendors to resume their businesses.
Talking to Arvind Maurya, another beneficiary in Varanasi, the Prime Minister asked him whether he faced any difficulty in obtaining a loan for his business. Arvind sells momos and coffee on a cart.
“It was a dream come true for me when the money came into my account. I follow all safety protocols in the pandemic and give an extra momo to those customers who follow the rules,” he said excitedly.
The Prime Minister even expressed a desire to taste his momo.
In Lucknow, the Prime Minister spoke to another vendor Vijay Bahadur who has a ‘bhelpuri stall’ in the Chowk area.
The Prime Minister said that vendors had played a crucial role during the pandemic and the SVANidhi scheme had helped them keep their kitchen fires burning.
He also said that the role played by banks in disbursing loans to the poor should be lauded.
He said that some people had expressed doubts about the benefits of schemes for the poor but time had proved them wrong.
Earlier, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that Uttar Pradesh has ranked first in all three categories — applications, sanctions and disbursal of loans-in the scheme.
He thanked the Prime Minister for the scheme that is aimed at empowering individuals from the marginalised sections and promoting the government’s agenda of building a self-reliant India.
In Uttar Pradesh, more than six lakh applications have been filed, of which about 3.27 lakh have been sanctioned and 1.87 lakh loans disbursed.