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Interim budget: 5-year extension to PMAY rural; 20 million houses to be built
In the interim budget for the next financial year, the allocation for the PMAY-Grameen is ₹54,500 crore
The Narendra Modi government has extended the housing scheme for rural poor or the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (Gramin), one of the most important welfare programmes to fight multi-dimensional poverty, for another five years to construct an additional 20 million houses, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Thursday.
Presenting the Union’s interim budget for 2024-25 fiscal year, the minister cited increased demand for the decision. The government has already sanctioned 29.4 million houses for rural poor against a target of 29.5 million dwelling units by 2024. Of the sanctioned, 25.5 million have been constructed.
Read here: PMAY-G scheme to continue for 5 years with target to build 20m more houses
“Despite the challenges due to COVID, implementation of PM Awas Yojana (Grameen) continued and we are close to achieving the target of three crore houses. Two crore more houses will be taken up in the next five years to meet the requirement arising from increase in the number of families,” finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in her interim budget on Thursday.
In the interim budget for the next financial year, the allocation for the PMAY-Grameen is ₹54,500 crore.
According to the revised estimates for the current financial year 2023-24, ₹54,000 was allocated for PMAY, including ₹32,000 crore for PMAY-Grameen. In the previous budget, the finance minister had allocated over ₹79,540 for the PM Away Yojana, of which ₹54,487 crore pertained to PMAY-Grameen.
According to government functionaries, a major share of the 20 million new houses is likely to be constructed in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Jugal Kishore Mohapatra, a former rural development secretary, said: “These states are the hard core poverty geography of India. The government’s intervention has worked here well and the focus remains on these states.”
Bihar, UP, Jharkhand, MP and Rajasthan are also among the top states in completing the construction of houses. Bihar has completed 98% or 3.65 million of 3.7 million approved houses. Similarly, Jharkhand has finished construction of 97.6% of its houses. Rajasthan (96.5%), UP (95.7%) and Madhya Pradesh (94.1%) have high rate of completion.
“This programme has worked well politically and as development intervention. There is no discrimination among the beneficiaries and it addresses the multi-dimensional poverty by creating durable assets of pucca houses. The extension is much-needed as it will cater to new families in a number of states. Already, a number of states have almost completed their targets” said Mohapatra.
Under the Modi government, all new PMAY-G houses are provided with a cooking gas connection under the Ujjwala scheme and electricity connection under the Saubhagya scheme.
In her address to the joint sitting of both Houses on Wednesday, President Droupadi Murmu said, “Construction of pucca houses under the PM Awas Yojana has enhanced the social status and dignity of the beneficiary families and giving over seventy per cent houses under PM Awas Yojana in rural areas to women as sole or joint owners have enhanced their dignity.”
