BHUBANESWAR: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday announced a financial package for urban street vendors whose livelihood has been affected due to lockdown in the second wave of Covid-19.
Financial assistance worth Rs 26.29 crore to be disbursed from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) is likely to help over 87,657 street vendors in urban centres.
Following a surge in Covid-19 cases the state government had announced lockdown across the state from May 5 to 19 which was later extended to June 17.
Though the government has allowed the opening of essential shops like vegetables and fruits from 7 am to 11 am, the lockdown has badly hit the livelihood of thousands of street vendors.
“We are thankful to the government for the financial support given to the street vendors.
Many families will not die of hunger due to this help,” said Pratap Sahu, president of Odisha Street Vendors’ Association.
He said there are around two lakh street vendors in the state but as per the survey of municipalities, a letter of recognition (LoR) has been issued to 87,675 vendors.
“We had urged the government to give financial assistance of at least Rs 5,000 a month and to waive the loans for the period of the lockdown when vendors were not able to do any business,” Sahu added.
Basant Patra, a guchup seller said, “As such business was down due to Covid.
The lockdown has left us broke.
We used to live on daily income.
Since the lockdown, the family is eating only once a day.
Though the chief minister has announced the benefits, we don’t know when we will get the money.”