75 street food vendors trained to handle online orders

According to a Chennai Corporation statement, the central government has signed a memorandum of understanding with Swiggy to sell the food sold by street vendors through the online delivery platform.

“As a pilot initiative, as many as 50 street vendors from each of the five cities such as Chennai, Ahmadabad, Delhi, Indore and Varanasi were given training. Following the initiative, awareness and training session was conducted at Ripon Building on Thursday in which 75 vendors took part,” the statement said.

As many as 8,183 street vendors in the city have applied for Rs. 10,000 loan from the central government under PM SVANidhi scheme. Of the total applied street vendors, loan amounts have been approved for 1,784 vendors.

The statement added that street vendors who repay the loan on time would receive subsidy on interest. Also, street vendors would be given Rs 100 every month if they use online transactions. The scheme will be valid till March 31, 2022. The government had launched PM SVANidhi Mobile App to disburse loan amount to the street vendors. However, street vendors should link their Aadhaar and mobile phone numbers with their bank account to avail the loan.

“Apart from training the vendors on online trade, street vendors were sensitised on preparing food hygienically. Also, pamphlets on COVID-19 safety measures were handed over to vendors. Importance of social distancing and mask compliance were also explained to them,” the Corporation statement added.