Lok Kalyan melas to be conducted by GHMC for street-vendors

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is conducting ‘Lok Kalyan Melas’ across the city under the PM Street Vendors Atma Nirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme, which has been restructured and extended by the Union Cabinet up to the year 2030.

Started on September 17, the melas will continue till October 1, with participation from multiple stakeholders, including bankers, digital payment aggregators, town vending committees, Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), line departments, NGOs, and vendors associations.

Among the key objectives of the special campaign are mobilisation of new applications, loan disbursement for already sanctioned applicants, processing of applications returned by banks and also pending with the banks, digital onboarding of the inactive beneficiaries, and training for street food vendors in coordination with FSSAI.

While the scheme is being implemented across the urban local bodies in the city, the implementing agency is GHMC through its Urban Community Development wing.

Mobile announcement vans

The ULBs have been instructed to conduct awareness activities at vending spaces, market places, transit hubs, and other high footfall areas using posters, banners, digital screens to ensure maximum visibility. Mobile announcement vans too, may be used for added outreach, as per the concept note circulated by the Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs.

Social media campaigns, WhatsApp groups, SMS alerts are a few more suggestions, to disseminate information about the mela schedule, and key activities covered. Engagement of local influencers and community leaders, market association leaders, elected representatives, and community figures is prescribed to spread awareness about the campaign.

GHMC has been given a target of 12,324 new applications and disbursement of loans, scrutiny of 1,808 applications returned by banks, digital empowerment of 1,196 digitally inactive vendors, and socio-economic profiling of 2,174 vendors. A 6,580 target has been fixed for sanction of social security schemes.

The corporation has so far identified 1,66,340 street vendors, and issued them identity cards. Loans have been issued in the first tranche 58,600 of them, in the second tranche to 26,092, and in the third tranche, to 10,686 vendors. Venues have been identified at 12 locations across the city for conducting training to the street food vendors, with the respective circles given the responsibility of mobilising the vendors.