In a move to give access to street vendors who do not have Identity Card (ID) and Certificate of Vending (CoV), the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on Friday launched a Letter of Recommendation (LoR) module to provide benefit to street vendors under the PM SVANidhi scheme. Those who are not included in any survey list also get benefitted from the LoR module.
The module provides for an end-to-end digitally-enabled process wherein an eligible vendor can request for a Letter of Recommendation from the Urban Local Body and on receipt of the same he/ she can apply for the loan under PM SVANidhi. Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary , Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, launched the module.
According to the ministry, for applying for the LoR from ULB through the online module on PM SVANidhi portal, a vendor needs to possess any one of the documents: Proof of availing one -time assistance, provided by certain States /UTs, during the period of lockdown; or the membership details with the vendors’ associations; and any other documents to prove that he is a vendor. Further, a vendor can also request ULB through a simple application on white paper to conduct local enquiry to ascertain the genuineness of the claim as vendor. ULBs will have to dispose of the request for issue of LoR within a period of 15 days.
The vendors possessing LoR will be issued Certificate of Vending / ID Card within a period of 30 days. This provision will help in extending reach of the Scheme to the maximum number of beneficiaries.
Since commencement of online submission of loan applications on PM SVANidhi portal, more than 4.45 lakh applications have been received and over 82,000 have been sanctioned in different States and UTs.
This scheme targets to benefit over 50 lakh Street Vendors who had been vending on or before 24 March, 2020, in urban areas including those from surrounding peri-urban/ rural areas. Under the Scheme, the vendors can avail a working capital loan of up to Rs 10,000, which is repayable in monthly instalments in the tenure of one year.