899 street vendors registered, 635 rejected in Ambala Cantt

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Ambala, August 6

As many as 899 street vendors have been registered while 635 others were rejected in Ambala Cantonment. This was done after a private firm hired for the purpose identified 1,534 street vendors in the town during the survey.

Those fulfilling the eligibility and criteria prescribed by the Town Vending Committee were registered, others were denied registration. 

The registered vendors will be eligible for availing benefits under the PM’s Street Vendors Atma Nirbhar Scheme.

The DC asked Lead District Manager DK Gupta to ensure the immediate approval of the online applications of all eligible registered vendors who had applied for bank loans under the PM’s scheme. He told Gupta to issue instructions to all bank branches in the district in this regard.

Under the Centrally sponsored scheme, the vendors can avail Rs 10,000 one-time interest and guarantee-free bank loan with a provision to return in 12-month instalments. Those who will repay the loan before one year will get 7 per cent and the digital payments of loan instalments will provide cashback from Rs 50 to Rs 100.

Know your vendors

Next time you visit any street vendor in Ambala, you will be able to know his credentials as the registered ones are being issued chip-based identity cards in the district.

While over 3,000 street vendors had already been registered in the district, the remaining or left out will also be registered in coming days, officials said.

The pilot project, which was launched in Ambala City, was replicated in other towns of the district as well.

Under the project, chip-based identity cards will provide the name, address, age and photograph of the vendor besides specifying whether he/she was stationary or mobile in nature.

Part of street vending plan

The project is part of the street vending plan, under which the roadside sellers are being registered, relocated and given a dedicated place to work in Ambala district. With this, crowded public places, busy roads and streets will be freed of congestion caused by the unregistered vendors in the district. To implement the scheme, a private firm had been roped in to conduct a survey and carry out the logistics in the field.

Divulging the details, the DC said all street vendors operating in the district would be identified during the survey following which they would be registered, given identity cards and a dedicated place to carry out their business.