VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday launched the third phase of Jagananna Thodu scheme, under which an interest-free loan of Rs 10,000 each is provided to 5.10 lakh small and petty vendors at an expenditure of Rs 510.46 crore and another Rs 16.16 crore as interest reimbursement, totaling the amount to Rs 526.62 crore.
Addressing the beneficiaries in virtual mode, the Chief Minister said that the scheme is aimed at benefiting the small and petty vendors, artisans from the unorganised sector by providing working capital and financial assistance to support their businesses. He said that so far, in three spells, 14,16,091 people benefited under the scheme and the government had spent Rs 1,416 crore, besides interest repayment of Rs 32.5 crore.
Describing the small-scale vendors as essential service providers, the Chief Minister said that the government is relieving them from paying heavy interests, by facilitating loans from banks and upon timely repayment of loans, all the interest amount shall be reimbursed directly to the beneficiaries’ accounts, and further, they will be eligible to take the next loan.
He said that the scheme is being implemented twice a year and urged the beneficiaries to repay their loans on time to avoid overdue and NPA, which could hamper the chances of availing fresh loans. Further, the Chief Minister said that people who were left out can either contact the volunteers or visit village/ward secretariat to avail the scheme or can call 08912890525 to get their queries answered.
He said that 82 per cent of the vendors across the country have lost their income due to the Covid pandemic, but in the State, the government stood by the downtrodden communities and credited Rs 1.29 lakh crore through DBT into the beneficiaries accounts in a transparent way. With the measures taken by the State government, Andhra Pradesh stood in a better place than other States in the country, as per the report given by Dun and Bradstreet Company.
Minister for Municipal and Urban Development Botsa Satyanarayana, Chief Secretary Dr Sameer Sharma, Special CS for Municipal and Urban Development Y Srilakshmi, Special CS for Housing Ajay Jain, Revenue Special CS Rajat Bhargava and other officials were present.