New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh has benefitted the most under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U), constructing the highest number of affordable housing units, data from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) showed.
Meanwhile, Sikkim has built the least houses when it comes to states.
The data, which was released in Parliament on 12 December, showed that as on 30 November, Uttar Pradesh had built 11.84 lakh dwellings under the affordable housing scheme for urban areas since it was launched in 2015.
On the other hand, Sikkim, with 183 dwellings, had built the least number of affordable urban housing units.
An urban housing scheme that provides ‘pucca’, or concrete houses to eligible beneficiaries, the PMAY-U has four verticals — Beneficiary Led Construction (BLC), Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP), In-Situ Slum Redevelopment (ISSR), and Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS).
The data also includes 3.41 lakh completed houses and 4.01 lakh grounded houses constructed under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, which was launched by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2005 but scrapped by the Modi government in 2015.
In its response in the Rajya Sabha, the ministry said that 1.20 crore houses were sanctioned against the validated demand of 1.12 crore houses.
Out of these, 1.06 crore houses have been “grounded” — that is, set for construction — the figures showed. Of these, 64 lakh houses were either completed or delivered until 28 November.
In terms of the number of houses constructed, UP was followed by Gujarat (7.18 lakh), Maharashtra (6.58 lakh), and Andhra Pradesh (6.32 lakh).
Other than Sikkim, Meghalaya (1,098), Goa (2,814), and Arunachal Pradesh (3,900) fared poorly in implementing the scheme.
Among the union territories, Delhi had the most houses (27,308) while Andaman and Nicobar the least (45). Lakshadweep doesn’t have data available for the scheme.
“Moreover, about 37 lakh houses have been approved during the last 2 years which requires due time for completion. The completion time generally takes 12 to 18 months for individual houses, and 24 to 36 months in case of multi-storey houses sanctioned under the scheme,” the MoHUA said, giving details of measures being taken to ensure the timely completion of houses.
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Fund distribution
The government data showed that Andhra Pradesh had the highest amount of funds sanctioned (Rs 31,622 crore) but Uttar Pradesh received the highest amount (Rs 20,780 crore).
Sikkim had the least amount of money sanctioned and released with Rs 11.86 crore and Rs 6.47 crore, respectively.
In its response, the MoHUA said “all efforts have been made” to meet the deadlines in the Detailed Project Report (DPR). A DPR is a detailed outline of a project.
“The ministry conducts regular meetings to monitor (the) progress of the scheme and completion of houses approved under the scheme,” the ministry said in its response in the Rajya Sabha. “The period of PMAY-U for completion of already approved houses has been extended till 31 December 2024.”
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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