Loans to street vendors: Govt to set up camps

NEW DELHI: The Social Welfare department is all set to build up camps across the city to give loans to the roadside vendors and is awaiting approval from the Finance department after which it would be soon implemented, Delhi Social Welfare minister Rajendra Pal Gautam said.

He added that a similar scheme was present, but was mostly non-functional. "I think we can start putting camps all over the city by the next month, said the minister.

Loans of Rs 20,000 will be given to vendors, of which Rs 10,000 would be a subsidy.

Gautam also said the Delhi government will come up with a new department to cater specifically to the differently-abled.

"We have planned the scheme and are now taking suggestions from experts to make changes, if needed. After this, the plan would need approval from the Law and Finance departments of the government," he said.

"I know that roadside vendors and other such business owners suffer from a monetary crisis and we want to give them support," the minister said, adding that vendors often take loans from local 'mahajans' at exorbitant interest rates. "They often don't get basic facilities and the loan pressure adds to their struggle," Gautam said.

The loan scheme was formulated by the Social Welfare department to help street vendors build their business better.

"In this scheme, they will not need any paper or verification of shops, because they do not have those. But we will come up with our own process to check the applications," Gautam said.