Reduction of budgetary allocations for housing and urban affairs to 1.6% of the total budget estimate (BE) this year (BE 2026-27), the lowest in five years, and the massive downward revisions at the Revised Estimate (RE) stage of 40% reduction in 2025-26 were flagged by the department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee in its report presented in Parliament on Thursday.
It said that while the total central government outlay has steadily increased, the ministry’s relative share has dropped despite increasing urbanisation and rising demand for housing, water supply, sanitation and urban transport.
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The committee, headed by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, also flagged a systemic mismatch between projections and actual spending. In 2024-25, the ministry surrendered ₹32,291.34 crore.
Furthermore, nearly 28.38% of the 2025-26 budget was left to be spent in the final 39 days of the fiscal year. The committee also pointed out that the last comprehensive assessment of India’s urban infrastructure needs was done in 2011. There is currently no updated unified national strategy to meet the “Viksit Bharat 2047 vision”, it noted.
“Existing infrastructure is under strain and often inadequate to meet growing demands for affordable housing, drinking water, sanitation, waste management, drainage and efficient public transport. At the same time, new urban areas require planned and sustained investment to ensure balanced and sustainable development,” the committee noted.
{{/usCountry}}“Existing infrastructure is under strain and often inadequate to meet growing demands for affordable housing, drinking water, sanitation, waste management, drainage and efficient public transport. At the same time, new urban areas require planned and sustained investment to ensure balanced and sustainable development,” the committee noted.
{{/usCountry}}As a primary recommendation, the committee asked the ministry to adopt a more realistic and evidence-based forecasting mechanism aligned with actual implementation capacity at the state level and to formulate and present a clear and time-bound roadmap for progressively enhancing ministry’s share in the total central outlay, the committee also asked the ministry to institute robust expenditure monitoring and mid-year review mechanisms to ensure timely utilisation of allocated funds under key schemes and other urban infrastructure programmes.
For waste management, the committee noted that 37.5% of identified legacy waste (942.77 lakh metric tonnes) remains pending remediation, especially in light of 50% reduction in requested funds for 2026-27 may hinder the goal of making cities “Garbage Free” by 2026.