PM Awas Yojana: 88 lakh houses given to urban poor since 2015

New Delhi: More than 88.22 lakh houses have been delivered to beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U) till November 25, 2024, the Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday.

Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Tokhan Sahu said in reply to a question that under PMAY-U, launched on June 25, 2015, a total of 118.64 lakh houses have been sanctioned by the Ministry, out of which 114.22 lakh have been grounded and more than 88.22 lakh delivered to the beneficiaries.

Sahu said that learning from the experiences of PMAY-U, MoHUA launched PMAY-U 2.0 ‘Housing for All’ Mission on September 1, 2024, to provide Central Assistance to one crore additional households of EWS/LIG/MIG categories to construct, purchase and rent a house at affordable cost in urban areas across the country.

As of date, 29 States/UTs have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to implement PMAY-U 2.0 as per scheme guidelines. The total investment is Rs 10 lakh crore, including a government subsidy of Rs 2.30 lakh crore, the MoS said.

In reply to another question, Sahu said the government has taken initiatives to promote prefabricated house construction technology as an affordable and sustainable solution for addressing the housing shortage in urban areas.

“About 10 lakh houses have been constructed using innovative construction technologies including pre-fabricated technology in the country so far under PMAY-U. In this system, components such as walls, slabs, and beams are manufactured in a factory and then assembled at the construction site which significantly reduces construction time while enhancing quality control,” he said.

Under PMAY-U, a Technology Sub-Mission (TSM) was set up for the promotion and adoption of innovative, sustainable, eco-friendly, energy-efficient and disaster-resilient technologies and building materials. Under PMAY-U 2.0, it has further expanded into the Technology and Innovation Sub-Mission (TISM) to support innovative construction practices and projects, he said.

The MoS said to promote the infusion of new ideas, 54 innovative proven construction technologies were shortlisted from across the globe after the Global Housing Technology Challenge - India (GHTC-India) that was initiated to identify and mainstream globally best available proven construction technologies, including prefabricated technology.

Asked about the manner in which the government plans to address challenges related to land acquisition and zoning regulations for pre-fabricated housing projects with a focus on densely populated tribal pockets, the MoS said that with regard to prefabricated housing projects, there is no special requirement related to land acquisition and zoning regulations in the country, including densely populated tribal pockets.