The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation in collaboration with banks and traffic police organised a Lok Darbar to grant a loan of Rs 10,000 each to street vendors, at Gomtipur police headquarters in Ahmedabad on Monday.
The darbar was attended by as many as 300 street vendors from the nearby areas.
Mahesh Kumar Darji, community organiser of the Urban Community Development department at AMC, told The Indian Express, “During the Covid-19 pandemic, we conducted a survey of all the local vendors in the city by the estate department, and got them registered under the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) in 2020. Over a lakh have been registered as street vendors and have been given a card in Ahmedabad till date.”
“Surveys for identifying the street vendors started in 2018, but the scheme was launched in 2020. While also addressing the effects of pandemic on these street vendors, we found that not many knew about it, and there was an increase in the scams by the middlemen, and deaths by suicide. So in order to eradicate this, we sorted to rigrous camps on getting the street vendors registered and offer them loans under the scheme… We just help them with the registration process,” said Darji.
All the nationalised banks are part of this scheme, and a representative from each bank was also available to help with the process.
Darji also said that there are three requirements to get registered under the scheme: an Aadhaar card, bank account and street vendor identity card.
The loan is given in three steps. The first loan is of Rs, 10,000, which is to be paid back in 12 months, after this the vendor becomes eligible for a bigger amount of Rs 20,000 which is required to be paid within 18 months, and then for an amount of Rs 50,000.
If the vendor pays the amount within six months, then he or she automatically becomes eligible for the next amount.
The defaulters are dealt with by barring them for any sort of loan in any other scheme.
“However, we make them understand the importance of the scheme, and its benefits, and get them back in the loop. The banks are covered by the credit guarantee fund of the RBI, so they do not suffer,” added Darji.
Most of the vendors present in the darbar on Thursday, were the first time beneficiaries.
Moahammed Asalam, 34, a fruit vendor in the Rakhial area of Ahmedabad said, “I got the identity card back in 2018, when the survey was done to identify the vendors. However, due to family issues, I never took the loan. It is for the first time that I am taking it here.”
“Once the vendors get into the loop of the scheme, they become eligible for other safety net schemes and social schemes like enrollment into self help groups, and other schemes clubbed under PMSVANidhi like PM Suraksha Bima Yojana, Maan Dhan Yojana and so on,” said Darji.
Another beneficiary Nasreen Bano, 42, said, “We did not know about the scheme. But we saw a lot of women going somewhere, so they told us about the darbar. So we came here.”
Ahmedabad tops the list of lending mega cities with more than 40 lakh population in the country. Since 2020, it has received 1,19,845 eligible applications, and has sanctioned over 80,000 of them. Loans have been disbursed to over 71,000 such street vendors in the city, and the average age of the applicant is 42 years, with 24 days on an average required to sanction by the authorities, as on February 13, 2023.
Gujarat ranks fourth among large lending states with more than 4 lakh eligible applications, and the list is led by Madhya Pradesh with more than 9 lakh such applications.
As per the PMSVANidhi website, about Rs. 98.95 crore have been sanctioned under the jurisdiction of AMC and Rs 86.24 crores have been disbursed by the authority.
“Other family members of mine were already registered under the scheme, and have come here for second rounds of loan. I am getting myself registered today,” said Lalita Makwana, 58, who is in the business of sarees in the Rakhial area of Ahmedabad.
The Lok Darbar was addressed by deputy commissioner of police traffic east Ahmedabad Safin Hasan and Bapunagar MLA Dineshsinh Kushwaha.