A large number of people thronged the Anna Maligai premises of Madurai Corporation on Monday to apply for ₹10,000 loan offered to street vendors, flouting personal distancing norms.
A loan of ₹10,000 is offered to registered street vendors under PM-SVANidhi scheme. The Corporation is the authoritative body to register street vendors for the loan. Apart from Anna Maligai, the regisration for loan also takes place at Corporation zonal offices.
G. Mohan, who is an elected member of the Street Vending Committee, said there were around 5,600 registered streets vendors with identity cards in Madurai. Around 3,000 street vendors, who were registered in 2016, were yet to receive their identity cards.
“Apart from them, there are around 2,800 street vendors who got themselves registered this February. They received the identity cards last month,” Mr. Mohan added.
Assistant City Health Officer (ACHO) S. Vinodh Raja said that in the initial phase, 6,000 street vendors coul avail loan under the PM SVANidhi scheme.
“Till date, loan applications for around 3,500 street vendors have been filed,” he said.
At present, the civic body also undertook registration of new street vendors. “The new street vendors are also eligible to apply for the loan,” he said.
But the process created chaos and led to crowding in front of registration counters, said N. Selvam, another elected member of the vending committee. “Many people, who are not street vendors, also throng the Corporation offices to register for loans under the PM SVANidhi scheme, “ Mr. Vinodh Raja added.
Mr. Mohan said that it was mandatory to undertake ground inspection before registering a new street vendor. “Only a few loan applications can be filed each day. Hence, the Corporation must ensure that they allow limited number of applicants each day to avoid crowding,” he added.
Mr. Vinodh Raja said work was underway to erect barricades in front of the registration counter at Anna Maligai as a measure to ensure adequate distancing between the applicants.