30% women’s quota in Prayagraj vending zones
Vendors in these pre-identified vending zones are setting up shops through financial aid provided under the PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi
Along with men, women shopkeepers will also be seen selling goods and eatables in shops set up in the designated vending zones here.
About 30 percent of the total number of street vendors would be women, according to officials.
To note, vendors in these preidentified vending zones are setting up shops through financial aid provided under the PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) .
The state government had already issued guidelines in this regard and instructed officials to sanction loans to women vendors on priority, officials said.
The PM SVANidhi scheme was launched on June 1, 2020, by the Central Government to help the street vendors resume their livelihood activities post Covid-19. Launched by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs the aim of this scheme is to empower street vendors by not only extending loans to them, but also strive for their holistic development and economic uplift.
The scheme intends to facilitate collateral free working capital loans of up to Rs 10,000 of one-year tenure, to help them resume their businesses in the urban areas, including surrounding peri-urban/rural areas, according to project officer of District Urban Development Agency (DUDA), Prayagraj Vartika Singh.
The PM SVANidhi scheme was available to all street vendors
who were engaged in vending in urban areas on or before March 24, 2020, she added.
In Prayagraj urban area, the PNN is to ensure loans of Rs 10,000 to 58,000 street vendors eligible under the scheme and provide them place in designated vending zones to earn their livelihood.
Officials shared that so far, vending zones had been identified at 29 separate sites in the city limits. The PNN has also got registration of around 25,000 street vendors done and made available loans under the scheme to around 11,000 of them. Though the women amount for less than 10 per cent of those already extended loans, this percentage would now be hiked to 30 per cent in accordance with the government orders in coming weeks, officials added.
Under the initiative, it will be mandatory for the person given the loan under PM SVANidhi scheme to personally sit at the shop in the vending zone each day to carry out business along with a proper identify card that is being issued, as well as the certificate issued by the PNN for setting up the shop.