Director-General of Police J.K. Tripathy has directed Commissioners/Superintendents of Police across the State not to disturb street vendors in vending zones and warned of “strict” action against police personnel if they resorted to harassment or eviction.
The move followed a letter by Chief Secretary K. Shanmugam to the DGP, drawing his attention to the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to cater to the working capital requirements of street vendors to resume their livelihoods, which has been adversely affected due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
The scheme lets street vendors avail a collateral-free loan of ₹10,000 for a one-year tenure with incentives like low interest and cashback, and provided for good repayment behaviour and digital transaction respectively.
“Street vendors are one of the most vulnerable sections, serving different needs of the urban economy. This scheme has been designed to take them out of perpetual indebtedness and help them to move up the economic ladder,” he said.
The Street Vendors Act, 2014, sought to empower them by making them participate in the administration of their affairs at the city level. The Act further provided for conducting a survey to identify street vendors and issue them a certificate of vending or an identity card. “However, the objective of the Act gets disturbed sometime when vendors are subjected to both physical and financial difficulties which is against the provisions and spirit of this Central Act being administered through the State,” the Chief Secretary said.
Mr. Shanmugam said the credit extended under the PM SVANidhi Scheme would become a bad loan in case the vendor was subjected to such uncertainty.
Since they operated on extremely thin margins, vending zones were earmarked to facilitate their business.
“I urge you to kindly instruct the Commissioner of Police and Superintendents of Police that street vendors, particularly beneficiaries of the PM SVANidhi Scheme, are not subjected to any kind of harassment and eviction from the approved vending zones Further, they may be advised that if any police personnel under their control violate this, strict action may be initiated against them to discourage harassment of street vendors,” the Chief Secretary said.
