MP felicitated with best-performing state award in Centre’s street vendor’s ‘Atmnirbhar’ scheme
Bhopal:Madhya Pradesh was honoured with the best-performing state award for providing loans to beneficiaries under the PM-SVANidhi (PM Street Vendor’s Atmnirbhar Nidhi) scheme on Thursday in New Delhi.
Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs (H&UA) Manohar Lal Khattar felicitated the officials of the Department of Urban Development of the MP government with the SPARK award during an event organised in the national capital on the theme, Utkrishtata Ki Ore Badhte Kadam’.
The achievement is considered an effort of MP Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav as he has taken a special interest in implementing effectively the centre’s run schemes after becoming the Chief Minister of the state.
Under the PM scheme, the state has distributed loans to more than 11.95 Lakh beneficiaries, out of them, 8.38 Lakh street-vendors are doing digital transactions. The street vendors have received about Rs 21 crore cash from the banks in the state.
The PM SVANidhi, a self-employed scheme is a micro-credit scheme which was launched by the Union Ministry of H&UA on June 1, 2020, to provide handholding support to street vendors to tide over the COVID-19 pandemic-induced economic stress.
It facilitates collateral-free loans of Rs.10,000, with subsequent loans of Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 50,000 with 7 per cent interest subsidy. The scheme is fully funded by the UMoH&UA.
Those street vendors are eligible who belong to the states/Union Territories notified under the Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending Act 2014. Later, the scheme was extended on January 4, 2021, as ‘SVANidhi Se Samruddhi’.
Principal Secretary Neeraj Mandloi and Additional Commissioner of UAD Kailash Vankhede received the award at the event on behalf of the state.
The commissioner of the UADD, Bharat Yadav has played a crucial role in the effective implementation of the centre’s flagship schemes including PM-SVANidhi, which are run in the urban areas in the state. Since launching the scheme, funds have been disbursed to the accounts of the 1.99 Lakh stakeholders in 2021. Likewise, in 2022, 1.70 Lakh beneficiaries benefitted under the scheme, and in 2023, the amount was distributed into the accounts of 4.84 street vendors.
According to an official of the department, the state has approved the maximum number of loan cases in the current year in the state, it was the highest data in the country among the states.
Under the scheme, loans of Rs. 10,000, 20,000 and 50,000 have been approved for street vendors in phases in the state.
During the felicitation ceremony, urban bodies Ujjain, Khargone and Sarani were also awarded under PM SVANidhi and Jabalpur, Sidhi, Mandsaur and Itarsi municipalities were honoured under the DAY-NULM scheme.
