New Delhi, Jun 29 (IANS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged states to identify and cover all the eligible street vendors in urban areas, especially in Tier II and Tier III cities, through a special drive, to encourage digital transactions by them, in mission mode under the PM Street Vendor Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi).

Reviewing the progress of the PM SVANidhi scheme, through the PRAGATI platform (under which he periodically reviews delayed projects related to various ministries across the country), he asked Chief Secretaries of various states who were present in the meeting, to ensure that benefits of all the government schemes to family members of SVANIdhi beneficiaries are provided through SVANidhi se Samriddhi campaign.

The scheme is aimed at empowering street vendors by not only extending loans to them, but also for their holistic development and economic upliftment.

The scheme was announced during the Covid pandemic, to facilitate collateral free working capital loans of up to Rs 10,000 of one-year tenure, to approximately 50 lakh street vendors, to help resume their businesses in the urban areas, including surrounding peri-urban or rural areas, post lockdown.

Meanwhile Modi also congratulated all the Chief Secretaries for having organised successful G20 meetings, official sources said.

He urged them to maximise the benefits from these meetings for their states, especially for the promotion of tourism and export.

The Prime Minister also reviewed the progress of many other projects related to ministries like health, railways, steel, highways and petroleum during the meeting.