52,000 hawkers sign up for PM Svanidhi loan scheme; 48K to go
MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued a letter of recommendation to 52,000 hawkers so that they can be beneficiaries of a loan under the Prime Minister Street Vendor Atma Nirbhar Nidhi Scheme (PM Svanidhi scheme) from any nationalised bank. Another 48,000 hawkers are slated to be beneficiaries of loans under this scheme.
Achieving this target has been a major feat for the BMC. After the scheme found no takers till mid-november and the December deadline loomed large, the civic body scouted for hawkers on a war footing in the city’s 24 administrative wards. Sanjog Kabare, deputy municipal commissioner (special), confirmed that 52,000 letters of reference for hawkers had been approved by the corporation. “This is the last week for us to complete our target of disbursing loans to 100,000 hawkers,” he said. “We have been holding several camps on site to find out what problems the hawkers have, and are organising camps with banks at the ward level. We sorted out their difficulties and helped them fill the forms.”
The housing and urban affairs ministry launched the PM Svanidhi scheme to empower street vendors by not only extending loans to them but also for their holistic development and overall economic upliftment.
To avail of the loan, hawkers have to first enrol themselves on the central government portal. The BMC will then recommend them for the loan. Hawkers who have been issued identity cards, as also those who have been included in surveys by the civic body but not been issued a licence, are eligible for the scheme. The micro-credit facility offers ₹10,000 to hawkers all over the country, licensed or unlicensed, who want to start their own business. The BMC’S target is 100,000 hawkers, which they are trying their best to achieve by next week.
Faisal Qureshi, president of the Linking Road Stall Owners’ Welfare Association told HT that he had availed of the loan. “The BMC will credit the loan amount in the account opened. They will give us the loan and Rs 800 will be debited every month for a year by way of EMI and non-interest fee imposed. And if the EMIS are paid on time for one year, another Rs 20,000 loan will be given next year.”
Qureshi added that there are very many unlicensed vendors on Linking Road with a letter of recommendation certified online. “Even those street vendors who were not approved in the 2014 Street Vendors Survey are eligible for these loans. How will they recover money from such unauthorised vendors? After all, this loan amount is also taxpayers’ money,” he said.
Qureshi emphasised that those on Linking Road are licensed stall owners and do not fall into the category of hawkers. “The majority of licensed stall owners have not availed of the loan. But we got roadside hawkers for the BMC and convinced them to take the loans,” he said.
Dadar’s G (North) ward has the highest target in the scheme—the BMC aims to get around 7,198 hawkers to sign up for the loan, followed by 6,906 in A ward in the Colaba-fort areas and 6,255 in P (North) ward in Malad. M (West) ward in Chembur has the lowest target of 2,698 hawkers, followed by E ward in Byculla with 2,810 and 2,813 in S Ward in Bhandup.