Street vendors from city get enlightened on PM SVANidhi

SHILLONG, July 29: Street vendors from Shillong were educated on the PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) and its success during a mela here on Friday.
The mela, which was organised at the parking lot in Polo, was attended by Members of the Meghalaya & Greater Shillong Progressive Hawkers & Street Vendors’ Association, Principal Secretary of Food Civil Supplies & CA department Dr. Shakil P Ahammed, Director of Urban Affairs department G Kharmawphlang, among others.
Ahammed, in his address, informed that 889 beneficiaries from the state have availed the scheme benefits this fiscal year against the Centre’s target of 3,000 beneficiaries for Meghalaya.
While calling upon various departments including banking institutions to work on a mission mode, Ahammed suggested that it is important to reach out to the street vendors and apprise them of the initiative instead of asking them to visit banks again and again.
“We need to realise that for the street vendors each day is a war with the perishable commodities on the roadside. It will not be possible to spare much time to visit the banks,” the Principal Secretary argued.
During the mela, members of the Association were also felicitated by Ahammed for shifting to digital payment platforms such as GPay, Paytm etc.
It may be mentioned that the scheme was launched by Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs for empowerment of street vendors by extending loans to them, and their holistic development and economic upliftment.
The scheme intends to facilitate collateral-free working capital loans of up to Rs 10,000 of one-year tenure to approximately 50 lakh street vendors, to help resume their businesses in the urban areas, including surrounding peri-urban/rural areas.