Team News Riveting
Bhopal, February 10
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan urged the bankers to accelerate the disbursement of street vendors’ loan.
Taking a serious note on the issue, the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister said the status of disbursement of amount under the Chief Minister Rural Vendor Scheme would be reviewed in the next meeting of the State Level Bankers Committee.
“Complaints of delay in approval of such cases (loans) have been received from some districts,” Chouhan told Chief General Manager of State Bank of India (Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh) Umesh Pandey, who called on him today. The needy people doing small-scale business should get loans easily, this effort should be made at bank branch level, he added.
Along with this, joint efforts should be made at the government and bank level so that the loan given to these beneficiaries was also repaid. This will make the task of re-lending to such beneficiaries easier. Chouhan urged for prompt approval of the loan schemes implemented for street vendors. Specifically, the Swanidhi Scheme, also known as the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors Atmanirbhar Nidhi, was discussed in detail.
Chouhan said that small traders were generally unaware of the technical aspects of bank loan, hence their difficulties should be solved at bank level.
Pandey assured the Chief Minister that it would be ensured that the process was not delayed unnecessarily. All the bank branches have been directed by the State Bank of India headquarters for immediate approval of small business loan schemes as it (the country’s lead bank) was committed to the welfare of the poor, he added.
It is noteworthy that Madhya Pradesh is ahead of all the states in the country in the implementation of the PM Swanidhi Loan Scheme. Similarly, efforts are being made to achieve good results in the Chief Minister Rural Street Vendor Scheme. Under the scheme, small street vendors in the rural areas like sellers of fruits, vegetables, ice cream, bread, biscuit, shoes-slippers, broom-sellers, bicycle repairers, carpenters, potters, weavers, washermen and tailors etc are provided interest-free loan of Rs 10,000 for upgrading their work.
Credit guarantee is given by the state. Also, there is no stamp duty. Under this scheme, a rural trader in the age group 18 to 55 years could avail the benefits.
