You might have missed your favorite panipuri wala or chaat wala during the lockdowns. Even though the nation is unlocking, the covid-scare is giving you enough reasons not to go out and have your favorite street food. But worry not. Government of India has taken an initiative to bring your favorite street food closer to you.
Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry (MoHUA) has joined hands with food delivery giant Swiggy to deliver street food to customers. The service will be initially available in Ahmedabad, Delhi, Chennai, Varanasi and Indore. The initiative will be launched as a pilot project by taking about 250 street vendors on board and will be gradually expanded in other parts of the country.
“The street vendors will be helped with PAN and FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) registration, training on technology/ partner app usage, menu digitization and pricing, hygiene and packaging best practices. Upon the successful completion of the pilot, MoHUA and Swiggy plan to expand this initiative across the country in phases,” said the statement.
The agreement was signed on Monday between Swiggy and the Ministry as a part of Prime Minister Street Vendor’s Atmanibhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme.The MoU was exchanged by Joint Secretary Sanjay Kumar and Chief Financial Officer, Swiggy Rahul Bothra, through a webinar.
For the first time, the ministry has coordinated with the key stakeholders including Municipal Corporations, FSSAI, Swiggy and GST officials for the functioning of the initiative.
Under this scheme of PM SVANidhi street vendors will get loans of up to Rs 10,000 at subsidized interest rate so that their business recover from the affects of Covid-19.
Recently Google issued notices to Swiggy and Zomato for guideline violation. Read about it here.
