All street vendors assured of loans by December 31

Nellore: Municipal Administration Minister P Narayana assured street vendors that the government would provide loans to all the eligible by December 31 this year. He distributed loans to the street vendors at Kasturba Kalakshetram here on Saturday.

Addressing the meeting, the Minister said that they had identified 8,131 street vendors in the district and provided identity cards to 8,070 members till now. He explained that a Town Vending Committee had been formed in every municipality in the district. “We had identified 5,561 street vendors under the Nellore Municipal Corporation limits and organised a meeting with them assuring that they would be provided loan of Rs 15,000 each for 1,000 members initially.

The government had sanctioned loans for 400 vendors,” he stated. Now, the state government had sanctioned support for another 400 vendors in the city, he added. Minister explained that they had formed JLB groups in the city and distributed loans to the groups with the support of Andhra Pragathi Grammena Bank. Narayana has assured that they would distribute loans to the rest of the vendors before December 31 after forming groups. Minister informed that they had identified 1,74,667 street vendors across the state.

Government had distributed 49,862 identity cards to the street vendors through civic bodies, he mentioned. MEPMA Director P Chinna Tataiah said that street vendors would get loan once they repay the present loan amount. Municipal Commissioner S Alim Basha said that they had identified specific places for the street vending for their livelihood at Muthukur road, Atmakur bus stand and other areas. NABARD AGM Ramesh Babu, MEPMA Project Director Chiranjeevi, Vijaya Dairy Chairman K Rangareddy, former legislator M Sridhara Krishna Reddy and others were present.