Housing for all: Centre approves continuation of PMAY-U scheme till 2024

‘Housing for All’ is one of the major flagship programmes being implemented by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal of the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) for the continuation of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) up to December 31, 2024. Under the proposal, financial assistance is to be provided for the completion of already sanctioned 122.69 lakh houses till March 31, 2022.

According to the official statement, during 2004-2014, 8.04 lakh houses were completed under the urban housing scheme.(HT Photo)

‘Housing for All’ is one of the major flagship programmes being implemented by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre. Under the initiative, it is aiming to provide all-weather pucca houses to all eligible beneficiaries in the urban areas of the country across all states and the Union territories.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) is an initiative by the Union government, under which the Centre is aiming to provide affordable housing to the urban poor with a target of building two crore affordable houses by 31 March, 2022. The policy has two components -- Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) (PMAY-U) for the urban poor and Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Rural) (PMAY-G for the rural poor.

According to the official statement, during 2004-2014, 8.04 lakh houses were completed under the urban housing scheme.

In 2017, the originally projected demand was 100 lakh houses. Against this projection, construction work for 62 lakh houses has been completed, the government said.

Meanwhile, of the total sanctioned 123 lakh houses, the proposals of 40 lakh houses were received late (during the last two years of the scheme) from the states and the UT governments, which now requires another two years to complete. "Based on the requests from the states/UTs, the Union Cabinet decided to extend the implementation period of PMAY-U till December 31, 2024," the ministry said.

According to the data released by the government, central assistance approved since 2015 stands at ₹2.03 lakh crore against ₹20,000 crore in 2004-2014. Upto March 31, this year, the central assistance of ₹1,18,020.46 crore has already been released and ₹85,406 crore will be released till December 31, 2024.