The department has received a total of 8,373 loan applications from hawkers, which is 22.3 per cent of the total target. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has sanctioned loans to 3,365 hawkers under the central government’s PM SVANidhi scheme, aimed to help those who were among the most affected during the nationwide lockdown.
The scheme was launched to support hawkers with a maximum of Rs 10,000 loan to help them recover from the losses during the lockdown and restart their source of livelihood. The loan is unsecured and is provided at a very small interest rate.
“The government has given a target to PMC to ensure loans to 37,500 hawkers. The civic body has undertaken a public awareness drive about the scheme so that maximum hawkers could avail benefit of it,” said Madhav Jagtap, in-charge of civic anti-encroachment department, which caters to the issues of hawkers in the city.
The department has received a total of 8,373 loan applications from hawkers, which is 22.3 per cent of the total target. “The loan has been sanctioned to 3,655 hawkers till now while the disbursement has been done for 2,038 hawkers in their bank accounts,” Jagtap said.
The sanctioning rate of PMC is 43.7 per cent while the disbursement rate is 24.34 per cent, he said.
Among those eligible for the loan under the scheme are the vegetable and fruit vendors, those involved in laundry, salon and paan shops.
