Pauni Pasari Yojana - Chhattisgarh

What is Pauni Pasari Yojana?

Pauni Pasari Yojana is a scheme of the Urban Administration and Development Department, Government of Chhattisgarh, which builds dedicated market spaces in towns and cities so that people in traditional occupations have somewhere legitimate and affordable to trade from. The Chhattisgarh government announced the scheme on 5 December 2020.

The name comes from two old Chhattisgarhi words for village service traditions. Pauni refers to the customary service occupations of a village. The potter, the blacksmith, the barber, the washerman, and pasari refers to spreading out goods for sale. The scheme's premise is that these trades did not disappear; they lost their place in the market as towns grew and land became expensive. Some sources write the name as Paun Pasari or Pauni Pasari; both refer to the same scheme.

According to the launch announcement, the scheme planned 255 Pauni Pasari markets across roughly 168 urban bodies in Chhattisgarh, with an expected reach of about 1.2 lakh people. Trading platforms, called chabutara, are built by the urban body and allotted to eligible traders for a nominal daily user fee reported at around Rs 10 per day. Fifty per cent of the spaces are reserved for women.

Main features

• The benefit is space, not cash. A built platform in a public market.
• Nominal daily user charge rather than commercial rent or a lump-sum premium.
• 50 per cent reservation for women, including urban self-help group members.
• Focused on traditional and hereditary occupational groups in urban areas.
• Delivered by the individual municipal body, which builds the market and runs the allotment.

Who is eligible for Pauni Pasari Yojana?

You can be allotted a space if:

• You live in the urban body: municipal corporation, municipality or nagar panchayat: where the Pauni Pasari market is being built.
• You work in a traditional occupation. The occupational groups named in scheme reporting include potters (kumhar), blacksmiths (lohar), bamboo workers (bansod), weavers, barbers, cobblers, washermen and other hereditary service and craft trades.
• You are a woman member of an urban self-help group, under the 50 per cent reserved category.
• You intend to trade yourself from the allotted platform rather than sub-let it.

You are not eligible if:

• You are not a resident of the urban body concerned. Allotment is local, and an applicant from another town cannot apply in a market where they do not live.
• You are seeking a cash grant, subsidy or loan — this scheme has no cash component and applicants looking for capital are not eligible under it. Look instead at PM SVANidhi for street vendor working capital, or the state's urban livelihood mission credit linkages.
• You want the platform as an investment to sublet. Allotments are meant for the trader in person, and subletting is a standard ground for cancellation.
• You are running an established commercial shop rather than a traditional occupational trade.

What documents are required?

Requirements vary a little between urban bodies because each municipal body runs its own allotment. Ask at the counter what its list is before you assemble papers.

How to apply for Pauni Pasari Yojana

1. Find out whether a Pauni Pasari market exists or is planned in your ward. Ask at the office of your municipal corporation, municipality or nagar panchayat, or at the ward office.
2. Collect the application form from the urban body. There is no dedicated statewide online portal for this scheme, so the counter is the working route.
3. Fill the form with your name, ward, the trade you follow and the type of goods or service you will sell.
4. Attach the documents, residence proof, Aadhaar, proof of your traditional occupation, photographs and, for the women's reserved category, your self-help group papers.
5. Submit the form and take a receipt with a date and reference number. Without the receipt there is nothing to follow up on.
6. Attend the allotment meeting if the urban body calls one. Where applications exceed platforms, allotment is generally decided by a committee of the urban body, with the women's reservation applied first.
7. Take possession and start paying the daily user charge once the platform is allotted. Keep the receipts; they are your evidence of lawful occupation.

What does a trader actually get?

A Pauni Pasari market gives a trader a built platform in a designated public market area, generally with the basic shared amenities the urban body provides at such a market, a paved area, lighting, water and sanitation depending on the site. What matters commercially is not the platform itself but the position: a recognised market draws steady footfall, and a trader occupying an allotted space is not exposed to eviction drives the way a pavement seller is.

The scheme does not supply raw material, tools, working capital or training. Traders who need those are usually pointed towards the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Urban Livelihoods Mission for self-help group credit, and towards PM SVANidhi for small working-capital loans. Pauni Pasari Yojana solves the place problem only.

Practical difficulties reported

• Uneven construction progress. The 255-market target was announced in December 2020, and completion has been uneven across urban bodies. In a town where the market has not been built, there is nothing to apply for yet.
• Location. Some Pauni Pasari markets have been built on land that is cheaper but away from the main trading street, which reduces footfall. Ask other allottees about takings before giving up an existing spot.
• Demand exceeding supply. Where a market has fewer platforms than applicants, the wait can be long. Keep the application receipt and re-enquire each round.
• Fee changes. The Rs 10 per day figure comes from launch-stage reporting. User charges are fixed by the urban body and can be revised, so confirm the current rate locally rather than assuming.

Where to get help

• Urban Administration and Development Department, Chhattisgarh; 0771-2221955, and the department portal at uad.cg.gov.in.
• Your municipal corporation, municipality or nagar panchayat office. The body that actually builds the market and allots the platforms.
• Ward councillor, for information on which ward markets are under construction and when the next allotment round is expected.

No fee is payable to any individual to secure an allotment. The only legitimate payment is the notified user charge collected by the urban body against a receipt.

Detailed statewide allotment guidelines, current per-market platform counts and the present user charge for Pauni Pasari Yojana were not available as a single official published document at the time of checking. The figures above come from the launch announcement and from the Urban Administration and Development Department's helpline information, and should be confirmed with your urban body.