BHUBANESWAR : As Odisha rolls out Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban 2.0 (PMAY-U 2.0), the district collectors have been asked to identify land parcels to facilitate affordable housing for landless households in urban areas.
A senior official from the Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) department said a direction has been issued to the collectors to take immediate steps in this regard under the government’s ‘Housing for All’ policy, which aims to provide low-cost housing and improve the quality of life and well-being of the urban poor. It is a priority under the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and a key driver in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
He said under PMAY U 2.0, the land-owing households benefit through the beneficiary-led construction (BLC) vertical, while the landless applicants rely on the affordable housing in partnership (AHP) vertical in which public or private agencies build houses of 30-45 sq mtr carpet area, which are then allocated to eligible beneficiaries.
The state government has already received over 85,000 applications in different verticals of the scheme which also include thousands of applications for AHP. “The process has already been initiated and some districts have identified the land parcels. However, it may a take a little time owing to the formalities involved in acquiring big patches of land in urban areas,” said the official.