Street vendors who took loan under PM Street Vendor's Atma Nirbhar Nidhi (SVANidhi) Scheme are facing a hard time in clearing their debts due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the beneficiaries has urged the state leaders to draw attention in this regard and take initiative to waive off their loans.
As a financial support to the street vendors, a collateral free loan of Rs 10,000 was given to them with a low rate of interest for a period of one year under PM SVANidhi Scheme. The scheme was launched last June amid pandemic and most of the state street vendors took the loan.
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As there have been no earnings since the early months of this year due to the second wave of COVID-19, the street vendors are not in a position to clear the loan.
Addressing the media, president of Ima Panthoibi Street Vendor Union, Y Indrani Devi said that the ongoing pandemic has brought an immense setback in the society and impacted every section. But compared to other daily wage earners, they are the ones who have been hit the most and bearing many untold challenges to meet their ends, she added.
“Amid this situation, getting a message from the bank to clear their loan given under PM SVANidhi has doubled the problems and challenges. The street vendors would be grateful if the state government takes up some initiative to waive off the loans taken considering the inconveniences faced by them during this pandemic,” said Indrani.
While drawing attention of the state government, she said that they were happy when they received the loan as a financial assistance and they could have easily cleared their loans, however the pandemic has halted all their ways of earnings.
The pandemic is getting even worse and unpredictable, and on the other hand the loan has to be cleared within one year as per norms and the deadline is reaching, she informed.
"Though the amount of loan is just Rs 10,000, it is a huge amount for us now as all our business activities are stopped with no earnings at all during this pandemic. The loans that we took with great hope have made us face sleepless nights in fear of not being able to pay off. We badly need support from the state government," she appealed.