More than 2.34 lakh houses sanctioned under PMAY-U 2.0 in nine states

NEW DELHI: In its third meeting on Wednesday, the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC), headed by Srinivas Katikithala, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), sanctioned 2,34,864 new homes under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban 2.0 (PMAY-U 2.0).

The houses have been approved in nine states: Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh under the Beneficiary Led Construction (BLC) and Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP) verticals of the scheme.

The meeting was attended by Kuldip Narayan, Joint Secretary and Mission Director (Housing for All); principal secretaries and mission directors of different states and union territories; and senior officials of MoHUA.

With this recent sanctioning, the overall number of houses approved under PMAY-U 2.0 stands at 7,09,979. The mission is a part of the Centre’s vision for providing financial benefits to 1 crore urban Indian families to either build or buy a pucca dwelling.

Notably, the newly approved houses also indicate the scheme’s emphasis on inclusiveness and social justice. Over 1,25,000 houses have been approved exclusively for women, including unmarried women and widows. Further, 44 houses have been given to transgender individuals, while 42,400 houses are for Scheduled Castes, 17,574 for Scheduled Tribes, and 1,13,414 for Other Backward Classes.

In the meeting, the secretary encouraged larger states to develop their own affordable housing policies from Maharashtra’s example. He also emphasised the need for early identification of beneficiaries in AHP proposals to minimise unoccupancy.

States and UTs were instructed to carry out verification and beneficiary attachment through the integrated PMAY-U web portal and to give preference to applications from Special Focus Groups.