With the timeline of PM Awas Yojna (PMAY) in urban areas overshooting the original time period, the government is all set to extend the scheme till March 2024 to complete the construction of approved houses.
The scheme to provide pucca roof to every family in urban areas, the PMAY scheme was launched in June 2015 and the government had initially set March 2022 as the deadline. But with more houses getting sanctioned due to more demand from states, the completion of construction works will now take more time, sources said.
The Centre has so far sanctioned close to 1.23 crore houses under this flagship scheme and out of this nearly 98.4 lakh houses have been grounded, meaning construction has started. According to government data, close to 58.7 lakh houses have been handed over to the beneficiaries or completed.
Among all states, Uttar Pradesh has registered the best progress so far with completion of 10 houses compared to the overall sanction of 17.6 lakh houses. In Gujarat, 7.3 lakh houses have been completed or delivered, followed by Maharashtra (6.7 lakh) and little over 5 lakh each in Madhya Pradesh. In Tamil Nadu, 4.7 lakh such houses have been completed.
In December last year, the cabinet had approved the extension of the rural component of the housing scheme, known as PMAY-Gramin beyond March 2021 till March 2024.