BMC persuades hawkers to accept central loan before Dec 3 deadline

The micro-credit facility offers ₹10,000 to hawkers all over the country, licensed or unlicensed, who want to start their own business. The BMC’s target is 100,000 hawkers, which they are trying their best to achieve before the deadline.

Mumbai: In an endeavour to meet the December 3 deadline for disbursing loans to hawkers under the PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme, the 24 administrative wards in the city are scouting for street hawkers on a war footing to persuade them to avail of the amount. The scheme was launched during the Covid-19 pandemic to help people who had lost their businesses.

To avail of the loan, hawkers first have to enrol themselves on the central government portal. The BMC will then recommend them for the loan. Hawkers who have been issued identity cards, as also those who have been included in surveys by the civic body but not been issued a licence are eligible for the scheme. (HT PHOTO)

The micro-credit facility offers ₹10,000 to hawkers all over the country, licensed or unlicensed, who want to start their own business. The BMC’s target is 100,000 hawkers, which they are trying their best to achieve before the deadline.

Dadar’s G (North) ward has the highest target – the BMC aims to get around 7,198 potential beneficiaries, followed by 6,906 in A ward in the Colaba-Fort areas and 6,255 in P (North) ward in Malad. M (West) ward in Chembur has the lowest target of 2,698 hawkers, followed by E ward in Byculla with 2,810 and 2,813 in S Ward in Bhandup.

To avail of the loan, hawkers first have to enrol themselves on the central government portal. The BMC will then recommend them for the loan. Hawkers who have been issued identity cards, as also those who have been included in surveys by the civic body but not been issued a licence are eligible for the scheme.

A civic official from the Removal of Encroachment department said that hawkers would have to repay the loan in one year. “It doesn’t matter what they sell,” he said. “The only criterion is that they should be hawking on the street when they are inspected. They should also have an Aadhar card, some documents as proof and a bank account.

“The government wants to help the unorganised sector all over the country,” the civic official added. “However, the street vendor demographic in Mumbai is vastly different from that of any other state. You don’t have hawkers in such huge numbers anywhere else. In Thane alone, there are 5,000 hawkers.”

There is also another significant difference between Mumbai and the rest of the country, the civic official pointed out. “Hawkers are not willing to accept this amount in a city like Mumbai and are not keen on taking the loan,” he said. “We are pushing them to, but they are uninterested.”

Faisal Qureshi, president of the Linking Road Stall Owners’ Welfare Association told HT that he had availed of the loan. “Some vendors have applied for it too,” he said. “We are passing on this amount to our employees who need it. It is an interest-free loan and can be paid within a year in instalments of ₹800.”

Qureshi said that their concern was the BMC disbursing loans to unlicensed vendors. “We are taking loans for our employees, and we know they will be repaid as we can cut the amount from their salaries. But unlicensed vendors can give no guarantee so how will the money be recovered?” he questioned.

Qureshi added that there are very many unlicensed vendors on Linking Road with a letter of recommendation certified online. “Even those street vendors who were not approved in the 2014 Street Vendors Survey are now eligible for these loans. How will they recover money from such unauthorised vendors? After all, this loan amount is also taxpayers’ money,” he said.

The loan, however, will come in handy for the 23 licensed vendors at Fashion Street whose stalls were completely gutted in a fire early this month.