The Central government has launched a ₹ 20-lakh-crore stimulus package to tide out from the present financial crisis being faced by different sections of the society due to the impact of COVID-19 on the economic front. As part of that, loans are being extended under Atma Nirabhar to the street vendors.
Finance Minister T. Harish Rao lunched the programme in the district headquarters on July 18, announcing that this is aimed at bringing life back to normal among the small and marginal traders, particularly street vendors. The district administration had already identified as many as 5,978 small vendors eligible for loans.Under the scheme, a loan amount of ₹ 10,000 is being extended to street vendors, which can be repaid in 12 instalments with an interest rate of seven per cent. However, several issues have been coming up between the proposed loan scheme and the amount extended to the beneficiaries. Several of the street vendors have no registration with the municipal authorities, hindering the process. It is not possible to commence the process unless the vendor gets registered with the municipality. Some of the vendors did not have bank accounts and in some other cases, though they are having accounts, the accounts are not active. Only few of the vendors were able to get loans so far and the officials put the figure at 768 as on Monday.
“We have a deadline to complete the target by September 30. But we want to complete it by August 31. Some of the vendors have not registered in the municipality, which we are doing now. Accounts of some of the vendors were not linked with Aadhaar card, a mandatory condition to get loans from the banks. Hopefully, we will complete extending loans before the deadline fixed by our district administration,” Ms. Indira from Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (MEPMA) told
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