MUMBAI: Ahead of the BMC elections, the BJP and Shiv Sena, led by Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde has taken the decision to reach out to Mumbai’s hawkers by offering them short-term and long-term loan of upto Rs 50,000 to start and expand their current business.
In Mumbai, there are 1.50 lakh authorised hawkers while more than 5 lakh are unauthorised, which counts as a significant chunk. Therefore, the BJP and Shiv Sena plan to reach out to the hawkers by adding them to the beneficiary list.
As per BMC, loans to hawkers will start from Rs 10,000 and go up to Rs 50,000 which will be offered under the PM Self Finance.
“We will initially offer Rs 10,000 as a loan amount to each registered hawker. If they repay the loan amount within one year, then next year, they will be given Rs 20,000 as the loan amount to start or expand the current business. If they pay the second loan amount on time, then in the third year, they will be offered Rs 50,000,” reads the BMC note.
He added that during the pandemic and lockdown, most of these hawkers suffered huge financial losses that they could not repair.