New Delhi, Jan 14 (PTI) The Housing and Urban AffairsMinistry has sought a nearly three-fold increase in allocationof funds in the Budget this year for its Pradhan Mantri AwasYojana (Urban), an official source said.
The central government aims to construct 1.2 crore housesfor the urban poor under the Narendra Modi government'sflagship scheme. So far, the construction of 37.5 lakh houseshave been approved under the scheme.
"The Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has sought overthree-fold hike in the allocation of funds for PMAY (U). Theministry had proposed Rs 20,000 crore for financing of thescheme," the source said.
In the Budget 2017-18, the scheme was allocated Rs 6,200crore. "Talks were on at the highest level and the ministry isexpected to be allocated around Rs 17,000 crore," he said.
Keeping in view that the programme has to be completed by2022, the ministry has laid special emphasis on its funding inthe Budget proposal, the source said.
The ministry is adopting a multi-pronged strategy to givemomentum to the scheme, a housing ministry official said. Theofficial said the focus is on adopting technology that offers"affordable, sustainable houses and scalability".
The ministry will launch the Global Housing ConstructionTechnology Challenge (GHCTC) in March to attract the bestpractices in the construction sector, the official said.
The technology selected will be deployed to constructaffordable houses across India.
Under PMAY (U), people can avail benefits under variouscomponents to buy a house in urban areas. PTI MPABH.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.