VIJAYAWADA: With the click of a button from his camp office in Tadepalli on July 18 at 10 a.m., Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy will deposit ₹560.73 crore, including interest-free loans worth ₹549.70 crore, to benefit 5.10 lakh petty traders and artisans, each of whom will receive ₹10,000 under the 'Jagananna Thodu' scheme.
The scheme aims to extend financial assistance to poor petty traders and artisans to help them realise financial self-sustenance worth ₹10,000 per year, in addition to adding ₹1,000 extra to ₹10,000 every year for those who took loans and repaid them on time.
The state government repaid ₹74.69 crore as interest subversion under the plan, including ₹11.03 crore given on Tuesday to 15.31 lakh beneficiaries who paid their loans on time. So far, a total of ₹2,955.79 crore in interest-free loans have been issued to petty traders, with ₹549.70 crore to be distributed on Tuesday to 15,87,492 beneficiaries.
Those who have a five-foot-long and five-foot-wide permanent or temporary business set up in their villages or towns are eligible for the ‘Jagananna Thodu’ scheme, as are street vendors who sell vegetables and food products on push carts, those who establish tiffin centres on the roadside and sell products in baskets, and those who travel on motorcycles and auto rickshaws.
Those interested in applying for interest-free loans should contact local village/ward secretariats or volunteers.
