While only one State (Goa) has completed the targeted construction of houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U) along with two Union Territories Delhi and Chandigarh, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh have failed to construct even 40 per cent of the sanctioned houses.
Telangana, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh are among the top States that have completed more than 75 per cent of sanctioned houses. Himachal Pradesh, Tripura and Madhya Pradesh have achieved more than 70 per cent of the target while Kerala, Odisha, Chhatisgarh and Rajasthan are among the States completing 60 per cent of the sanctioned houses.
Maharashtra (58 per cent), Punjab (57 per cent), Jharkhand (55 per cent) West Bengal (53 per cent) and Karnataka (50 per cent) are among the States completing half of the sanctioned target, according to the data presented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
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Meghalaya, Manipur and Mizoram have not even completed 25 per cent of the sanctioned houses. Overall, 60 per cent of the sanctioned houses have been completed under the scheme (excluding 3.41 lakh houses of the JNNURM mission period).
Central assistance
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has been implementing PMAY-U under the ‘Housing for All’ Mission since June 2015 by giving Central assistance to implementing agencies through States/Union Territories (UTs) for providing all-weather pucca houses with basic civic amenities to all eligible urban beneficiaries.
PMAY-U is a demand-driven scheme and the Government of India has not fixed any target for the construction of houses, but States/UTs undertakes demand survey under PMAY-U for assessing the actual demand for housing.
Under PMAY-U, a total of 118.90 lakh houses involving Central assistance of ₹2 lakh crore (approximately) have been sanctioned. Out of the sanctioned houses, 112.22 lakh houses have been grounded for construction; of which 75.31 lakh houses (including JNNURM houses) have been completed/delivered as on July 10, 2023, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs informed the Rajya Sabha.
Out of Central assistance of ₹2 lakh crore (approximately), ₹1.47-lakh crore has been released so far, according to the data provided by the Ministry.
Extended deadline
The implementation period of PMAY-U was up to March 31, 2022, but the government decided to extend it to December 31, 2024 to release the balance Central assistance and complete all the houses sanctioned under the scheme without changing its funding pattern and implementation methodology.
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According to the government, the scheme is changing the lives of people by addressing the urban housing shortage among the economically weaker section (EWS)/low income group (LIG) category, including slum dwellers, by providing eligible urban households with a pucca (permanent) house. The scheme also promotes women’s empowerment by providing the ownership of houses in the name of female members or in a joint name.