HYDERABAD: The process of digital on-boarding of street vendors in 24 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in Telangana is going at tardy pace, so much so that the Centre has expressed its displeasure.
As against the 1,89,562 identified street vendors in these two dozen ULBs - including Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation, Karimnagar and Nizamabad Municipal Corporations - only 43,454 have been digitally on-boarded and the remaining 1,46,108 are yet to be covered.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) expressed displeasure over the tardiness by the Telangana Municipal Administration Department. This prompted the State government to announce digital on-boarding camps in these ULBs till January 25, 2022, under the "Pattana Pragathi - Main Bhi Digital" initiative where it hopes to cover some ground and onboard the large number of remaining street vendors.
Apart from the GHMC, GWMC, MCK and NMC, the other ULBs are Khammam, Ramagundum, Adilabad, Palvancha, Zaheerabad, Armoor, Sangareddy, Miryalaguda, Medak, Narayanpet, Peerzadiguda, Mahbubnagar, Sircilla, Nalgonda, Kamareddy, Jagtial, Bodhan, Mancherial and Korutla.
Digital on-boarding of the street vendors and training is an integral component of the PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme. In GHMC limits, of the total assigned 46,965 street vendors, 12,940 have been on-boarded till date and 34,025 remain.
In Nizamabad, of the 15,677 street vendors, only 2,434 have been on-boarded, while in Khammam only 2,046 of the 11,369 have been covered. In Ramagundam, of the 10,095 street vendors, 5,748 have been on-boarded while in Karimnagar, it is 2,504 of the 9,959 have been covered.
MAUD officials said that Commissioners of the municipal corporations and municipalities should mobilise 250 street vendors per day in two shifts (at the rate of 125 per shift), make logistics arrangements like chairs, tables, WiFi connection, banners, drinking water etc as well as educate them for timely repayment of loans in order to be eligible for interest subsidy and for the next higher tranche of loan.