In pursuance of the vision of housing for all, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) is progressing at a fast pace with 2.02 lakh more houses approved under the mission in 8 states.
A PMAY(U) house ensures dignified living along with sense of security and pride of ownership to the beneficiaries. The flagship mission to ensure a pucca house to all eligible urban households also promotes women empowerment by providing the ownership of houses in name of female member or register it at joint ownership.
A total of 115.4 lakhs houses have been sanctioned under the mission so far, with all houses under PMAY(U) having basic amenities like toilet, water supply, electricity and kitchen.
The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) gave approval on Wednesday for the houses to be constructed in states namely, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. These houses are proposed to be constructed under Beneficiary Led Construction (BLC) and Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP) verticals of PMAY-U Mission.
Beneficiary-led House Construction
Central Assistance upto Rs. 1.5 lakh per house is provided to eligible families belonging to Economically Weaker Section (EWS) categories for individual house construction or enhancement. The Urban Local Bodies validate the information and building plan submitted by the beneficiary so that ownership of land and other details like economic status and eligibility can be ascertained. Central Assistance, along with state/UT/ ULB share, if any, is released to the bank accounts of beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) by states/UTs.
Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP)
Under AHP, central assistance of Rs. 1.5 Lakh per EWS house is provided by the Government of India. An affordable housing project can be a mix of houses for different categories but it will be eligible for central assistance, if at least 35% of the houses in the project are for EWS category. The States/UTs decide on an upper ceiling on the sale price of EWS houses with an objective to make them affordable and accessible to the intended beneficiaries. State and cities also extend other concessions such as their State share, land at affordable cost, stamp duty exemption etc.
Progress under PMAY-U
A total of 115.4 lakhs houses have been sanctioned under PMAY(U), out of which around 95 lakhs have been grounded for construction and around 56.3 lakhs have been completed and delivered to the beneficiaries. The total investment under the mission is ₹ 7.56 lakh crores, with central assistance of ₹ 1.89 lakh crores. So far, central assistance amounting to ₹ 1.25 lakh crores has already been released. Preference is also given to differently abled persons, senior citizens, SCs, STs, OBCs, minority, single women, transgender and other weaker & vulnerable sections of the society.
The emphasis in the meeting on Wednesday was to accelerate construction, completion and delivery of houses across the country.
PMAY-U was launched on 25th June 2015 to address urban housing shortage among the EWS/LIG and MIG categories including the slum dwellers by ensuring a pucca house to all eligible urban households by the year 2022. PMAY(U) adopts a demand driven approach wherein the housing shortage is decided based on demand assessment by states/Union Territories.
