Around 200 street vendors affiliated to Centre for Trade Unions (CITU) submitted applications at the Madurai District Central Cooperative bank on Thursday to avail of micro personal loans to revive their business which suffered due to the lockdown.
S.Santhiyagu, general secretary, CITU- affiliated street vendors association, complained that though the Cooperation Minister Sellur Raju had announced that micro personal loans up to ₹50,000 would be given to street vendors through cooperative societies and banks, in reality it was an uphill task to procure loans.
“For the past 10 days, many street vendors had submitted loan applications at cooperative banks across the district. But, their applications were not even received by the branch managers,”he said.
Officials often disregarded the applications citing that they did not adhere to their guidelines. “Hence, today all of us have jointly submitted our applications, stressing that many vendors desperately need the loan to revive their businesses. Due to difficulty in procuring of raw materials, lower demand for products and transportation issues, many street vendors are struggling to restart their business,” he said.
The officials have said that they will forward these applications and grant loans based on the eligibility of the applicants, he added.
