Secunderabad: SCB comes to rescue of Covid-hit street vendors

Secunderabad: The Covid pandemic has cast a shadow on all the sectors affecting the livelihood of people, especially the street vendors who are trying hard to recover the losses. To support the street vendors financially, the Central government has launched Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors Atma Nirbhar Nidhi Scheme. However, most of the street vendors were unable to apply for the scheme due to the documentation involved. In view of this, the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) is helping the vendors to enroll and register their names for availing the loan.

Parshuram, election coordinating officer, SCB, said, "To help the street vendors to resume their businesses, the SCB decided to enroll and register their names for applying for the loan. Under this scheme, a loan amount of Rs 10,000 could be availed, which can be repaid in 12 installments with an interest rate of seven per cent. SCB conducted a survey in August to identify the street vendors and through public address system created awareness about the scheme in every street of all the eight wards. The SCB collected the whereabouts of each street vendor."

While the target is to register 5,000 street vendors in the cantonment area, till now, 3,500 have been identified and registered. This data will be forwarded to the Hyderabad Collector for financial assistance. As September 21 was the last date for registration in SCB but if any vendor approaches us now we would enroll them. For registering the vendor needs to submit Aadhar card, passbook and a photo of their stalls. Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors Atma Nirbhar Nidhi is fully funded by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

OBJECTIVES OF THE SCHEME

(i) To facilitate working capital loan up to `10,000 at subsidised rate of interest;

(ii) To incentivize regular repayment of loan; and

(iii) To reward digital transactions

Who is a street vendor/hawker?

Any person engaged in vending of articles, goods, wares, food items or merchandise of daily use or offering services to the public in a street, footpath, pavement etc., from a temporary built up structure or by moving from place to place.

The goods supplied by them include vegetables, fruits, ready-to-eat street food, tea, pakodas, breads, eggs, textile, apparel, artisan products, books/ stationary etc. and the services include barber shops, cobblers, pan shops, laundry services etc.