Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Thursday distributed loans to a total of 1,269 vendors of different districts to support them in resuming their vending activities which have been affected by the nationwide lockdown.
As many as 803 street vendors were benefitted under the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor’s Atmanirbhar Nidhi - PM SVANidhi and 466 regular licensed vendors were provided assistance under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) - SHISHU.
Speaking on the occasion, Biren said that the government understands the financial difficulties which the vendors have been facing during the pandemic.
The chief minister further said that loans would be provided to a total of around 20,000 vendors from different parts of the state. Appreciating the efforts and support of the bank officials in providing loans to the street vendors, the chief minister appealed to the banks to disburse the loan amounts to the remaining applicants as soon as possible.
Mentioning about the Covid-19 infections in the state, Biren said that the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the state is due to the non-compliance of SOPs and protocols issued by the government. He further stated that the government will take stringent action against those who defy the protocols under National Disaster Management Act. He urged the people to strictly follow the guidelines and SOPs issued by the government.
During the function, the chief minister also distributed awards to the officials of Jiribam Municipal Council and Kakching Municipal Council for bagging Cleanest City in NorthEast India and Best City in citizen feedback awards respectively under Swachh Survekshan 2020 which was organized by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India.
The chief minister had already distributed loans to a total of 817 vendors of different districts on August 25, 2020.
PM-SVANidhi was launched by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on June 15, 2020. It is a special micro credit scheme for providing affordable working capital loan to street vendors to resume their livelihoods that have been affected due to COVID-19 lockdown. The scheme is valid until March 2022. Under this scheme, the street vendors, who were vending within the limits of an urban local body as on March 24, 2020, can avail working capital loan of up to Rs 10,000, which is repayable in monthly installments within the tenure of one year. On timely and early repayment of loan, an Interest subsidy @of seven per cent per annum will be credited to the bank accounts of beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) on quarterly basis. The scheme promotes digital transactions through cash back incentives up to an amount of Rs 7 100 per month. The vendors can avail the facility of escalation of the credit limit on timely/early repayment of loan.
CAF & PD minister Karam Shyam, Public Health Engineering minister L. Dikho, Agricultural minister V. Hangkhanlian, Forest and Environment minister Awangbow Newmai and MLAs of different Assembly Constituencies also attended the function.
