OVER 6 LAKH HOUSES SANCTIONED UNDER PM SCHEME IN TWO YEARS

Among the states, West Bengal has topped the list in providing affordable housing to its citizens. The state has helped 165,360 beneficiaries avail the scheme as of 6 March this year. West Bengal is followed by Gujarat, where the state government has helped 127,300 beneficiaries under this scheme. Other states that have done fairly well include Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Manipur and Nagaland.

Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh have sanctioned 41,282, 10,555 and 33,470 houses respectively during the same period, while Goa has been able to identify and provide benefit to just five persons in the state.

However, states such as Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh have also not been able to perform much as far as urban housing is concerned.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has prescribed a three-tier structure for effective monitoring and implementation of the scheme, which would include an interministerial committee at the Centre, a state level sanctioning and monitoring committee headed by the chief secretary of the state and a city level committee headed by the mayor of the city that would identify the beneficiaries who would be provided assistance for housing.

Government of India envisages providing housing to all citizens by the end of 2022 through this scheme. Together with the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission ( JNNURM), in all, the Centre has provided affordable housing to 962,312 persons till date.

“This Ministry is committed to housing for all by the end of 2022 and we are putting in all efforts to achieve the target in time. We regularly monitor the progress through periodic review meetings and video conferencing with the states and Union Territories concerned. Officials of the Ministry, as well as the Programme Management Unit set up under the PMAY(U) mission, also regularly undertake field level visits to monitor the scheme. The progress of the mission is also reviewed during national and regional level workshops conducted under the PMAY(U) mission,” a top official of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation said.

A total of Rs 1,431.23 crore was sanctioned during the financial year 2015-16, and a total of 99.13% of the total budget was spent for the PMAY(U) mission, according to the Ministry.