In a move for housing to all, the Narendra Modi Government has set an ambitious target to construct as many as 12 lakh houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) in 2017-18, although only 1.49 lakh houses were built under the scheme in 2016-17.
According to a senior Government official, under PMAY (Urban), the Centre targets construction of 26 lakh houses in 2018-19, 26 lakh in 2019-20, 30 lakh in 2020-21 and 29.80 lakh in 2021-22. The official said the delay in land acquisition is the main reason behind the laggardly implementation of the Government’s flagship scheme PMAY (Urban).
“So far, the proposal for construction of 18.76 lakhs houses have been sanctioned, and funding for construction of 13.06 lakh houses has been issued. But, due to delay in land acquisition, only 1.49 lakh houses have been completed under PMAY (Urban) in 2016-17,” the official said.
Earlier, the Urban Development and Housing Ministry had asked State Governments and UTs to submit proposals for construction of affordable houses at the earliest so that the Narendra Modi Government’s “Housing for All” scheme target in urban areas could be met by 2022 as envisaged.
Officials said that the Prime Minister has expressed annoyance over slow pace of work under PMAY programme. “At a meeting with all secretaries of states and UTs, the Prime Minister has directed to prepare an action plan and send the roadmap of 2022 to his office. He asked them to hold weekly review meeting in this regard and adopt a mechanism to fast track sanction of houses and to ensure adequate budget in the background of the assessed demand in each State/UTs,” said officials.
Interestingly, Government of NCT Delhi has not benefited from PMAY (urban) programme as it has not submitted any proposal.