NEW DELHI: Continuing its focus on the Centre’s flagship housing scheme, the Narendra Modi government allocated Rs 48,000 crore for the completion of 80 lakh houses in rural and urban areas under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
In her approximately 92-minute Budget speech, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made the announcement for the yojana that was introduced in June 2015. “In 2022-23, 80 lakh houses will be completed for the identified eligible beneficiaries of PM Awas Yojana, both rural and urban. Rs 48,000 crore is allocated for this purpose,” the minister said.
One of the Prime Minister’s flagship schemes, the PMAY caters to the housing needs of the middle class and economically weaker section across the country. Initially, the objective was to provide pucca houses to all eligible beneficiaries with the vision of ‘Housing for All’ in urban areas. Later, the scope of the scheme was extended in rural areas. The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban completed five years on June 25, 2020.
“The Centre would work with states for reduction of time required for all land and construction-related approvals, for promoting affordable housing for middle-class and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in urban areas, she said. “We shall also work with the financial sector regulators to expand access to capital along with reduction in cost of intermediation.”
The finance minister added that these announcements would help boost the affordable housing market.
On Monday, the Economy Survey had highlighted that 33.99 lakh houses were completed in 2020-21 and 26.20 lakh units as on November 25, 2021 under the PMAY- Gramin programme. For the PMAY - Urban, the survey noted, that 14.56 lakh houses were completed in financial year 21. In 2021-22, 4.49 lakh houses were completed till December 2021.
As per the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs website, around 114.02 lakh houses have been sanctioned across states so far under the PMAY-Urban, out of which only 53.42 lakh houses have been completed till now.
For better land records management, Sitharaman said the states will be encouraged to adopt Unique Land Parcel Identification Number to facilitate IT-based management of records. ‘‘The facility for transliteration of land records across any of the Schedule VIII languages will also be rolled out,’’ she said.
The adoption or linkage with National Generic Document Registration System (NGDRS) with the ‘One-Nation One-Registration Software’ will be promoted as an option for uniform process for registration and ‘anywhere registration’ of deeds and documents.