New Delhi: Shortage of land in India's urban areas has posed a major challenge in implementing the Prime Minister Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) scheme. Being aware of the situation, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has asked states to consider providing land to eligible beneficiaries by purchasing it in an open market.
"They (States) have been advised to consider providing land to eligible beneficiaries by purchasing it through open market or by providing land pattas as being done by some of the states like Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha," a senior official of the MoHUA told ETV Bharat. The official said states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are facing land crises in urban areas.
"As land is a scarce resource in urban areas, some states are finding it difficult to make available encumbrance-free land for some projects under Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP) vertical under which 20.63 lakh houses have been sanctioned," the official said. States and UTs have already been advised to prepare and amend their master plan to earmark land for affordable housing or provide alternate sites for such projects sanctioned under AHP.
The scheme (PMAY-U) launched in 2015, had the vision to provide housing for all by 2022. Initially, 1.15 crore houses were sanctioned out of which approximately 94 lakh houses have been grounded and about 55 lakh houses have completed construction. However, even after a lapse of seven years, only 50 per cent of the houses have been constructed since the commencement of the scheme.
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During the financial year 2021-22, 21.59 lakh houses have been sanctioned. Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, the economic condition of the states as well as beneficiaries came under strain, which affected the progress of the scheme, and therefore, to ease the financial burden of stakeholders and achieve the objective of the scheme, the completion time has been extended till March 2024.
Ironically, reports from the ministry said that many houses constructed under PMAY-U are not in liveable condition with windows and doors missing and illegally occupied by anti-social elements. "PMAY-U is a demand-driven scheme. Based on the housing requirements in urban areas and resources available, participating states and UTs prepared project proposals and with due approval of Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) seeking Central assistance," the official of the MoHUA said.
