The Union Cabinet’s decision to extend the lending period under the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme will facilitate street vendors across the country accessing more credits for meeting emergent business and personal requirements. The introduction of the UPI-linked RuPay credit card would provide immediate access to credit for the street vendors, and this is expected to push up the number of vendors on the streets of Guwahati city. The perpetual failure of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) to create dedicated vending zones shows a clear disconnect between the national goals of empowering informal traders under the scheme and implementation by the local government. One might struggle to reconcile why the GMC authorities have remained indifferent to the plight of both pedestrians and street vendors when the city is desperately looking for smart solutions for improving the ease of living index. When street vendors continue to occupy the pedestrian’s space to do business, the traffic congestion in the city only keeps worsening. A mixed mode of slow and fast traffic keeps the city roads choc-a-bloc with vehicles moving bumper to bumper during peak hours, which is a huge wastage of productivity. When pedestrians are compelled to join the chaotic mess with the pavements and roadsides being fully occupied by street vendors, the traffic starts crawling on most of the busy roads during the peak hours when students go to schools, colleges and universities and office workers rush to reach their workplaces in time or when they return home. The commuters remaining trapped in the gridlock and the GMC authorities persistently looking the other way also reflect weakening civic voice. The city needs supplies of fresh vegetables, fruits, various household goods, and ready-to-eat food items brought and sold by the street vendors, which make them an integral part of the cities, with low- and middle-income households relying on them for affordable costs. Demand for these items in the capital city has grown with the ever-increasing population of the city with its rapid vertical and horizontal expansion. This explains the surge in the number of street vendors in Guwahati, with rising demand pushing the contours of the street vending market and schemes like PM SVANidhi making it easier to do street vending with easier access to formal credit. The lending period under the scheme has now been extended until March 31, 2030. With a total outlay of Rs 7,332 crore, the restructured PM SVANidhi scheme aims to benefit 1.15 crore beneficiaries, including 50 lakh new beneficiaries. The official release on the Union Cabinet decision highlights that the enhanced loan structure includes first tranche loans increased up to Rs.15,000 (from Rs. 10,000) and second tranche loans increased up to Rs. 25,000 (from Rs. 20,000), while the third tranche remains unchanged at Rs. 50,000. The provision of a UPI-linked RuPay credit card for beneficiaries who have repaid the second loan and digital cashback incentives for retail and wholesale transactions are key features which will make it attractive for informal traders to avail the credit and tap the growing market on the streets of Guwahati. The target of extending the benefits of the restructured scheme to new beneficiaries will be another contributing factor behind the increase in the number of street vendors in the city. Prolonged delay in the creation of dedicated vending zones in Guwahati raises doubt over the capability of the GMC authorities to anticipate the increase in the number of street vendors on account of the restructured PM SVANidhi with access to a higher amount of credit for doing street business. Sporadic eviction drives carried out by the GMC authorities against street vendors for unauthorised occupation fail to address the larger problem, as the vendors return to the same pavements and roadsides within days of removal, bringing the situation back to square one – often worse than before. The street vendors also suffer losses in the process with the seizure of their items during such drives, which erodes the intended benefits of the PM SVANidhi scheme, and the losses of daily income and investment made in the procurement of merchandise make it difficult to make timely returns of the loans. When such loans turn bad, it only increases the burden on the taxpayers. Institutional gaps between the PM SVANidhi scheme and the city’s pressing need for dedicated vending zones make it ineffective in making street vending a sustainable activity in an expanding city like Guwahati. The Central and the State Governments need to prioritise city authorities fast-tracking the mandatory creation of adequate street vending zones while reviewing the challenges faced in achieving the key objectives of the scheme on the ground. An alert and active civic voice is essential to remind the elected representatives of GMC to play their part in clearing the mess. The city cannot grow sustainably without reclaiming Guwahati’s footpaths for pedestrians and creating designated dignified space for street vending.