NEW DELHI: Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY-Urban), a government-run housing scheme for urban poor launched in June 2015, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has completed the construction of only around 9.6 per cent (4.43 lakh) of the sanctioned around 46 lakh houses.
Launched amid much fanfare by the Modi government, the scheme has been sanctioned a total of Rs 2.59 lakh crore. Officials said that the projects will have Central assistance of Rs 70,992 crore, out of which Rs 24,751 crore has already been released to the states.
The Centre, taking note of the situation, has asked the states to fast-track the projects.
In a recent meeting of the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee of the scheme, the Housing Ministry’s senior officials advised the state governments to produce short films and printed literature on projects undertaken to showcase how the drive has transformed the lives of beneficiaries.
The officials have also asked the states to create mass awareness on the flagship scheme through various media platforms.
States have also been advised to complete the demand survey in the year 2018-2019 to meet the ‘Housing for All’ target by 2022.
Sources said that Prime Minister Office has rapped the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for the delay and asked the National Housing Bank, HUDCO and public sector banks to proactively promote credit-linked subsidy component of PMAY-Urban so as to meet the target of ‘Housing for All’ by the target year.
Under the scheme, the states put up proposals as per the preference of the beneficiaries for sanction of houses.
Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are active participants in the scheme.