Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban crosses a record One-Crore mark

by Shrutee K/DNS

 Inching closer to ‘Housing For All by 2020’ mission, PMAY–U sanctions 1.03 crore houses

 From a mark of 7.26 Lakh houses sanctioned in 2015, the mission recorded a growth of 1418% in 2019 with 1.03 Crore houses sanctioned

 Maharashtra sees a sanction of 11.57 Lakhs houses under PMAY–U while Andhra Pradesh tops the chart with 20 Lakh houses

Mumbai, December 31, 2019:  One of the world’s ambitious and the biggest housing schemes ‘Housing For All by 2020’announced by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in 2015, has accomplished a milestone of sanctioning one crore houses under the Prime Minister Awas Yojana – Urban category.

In a short span of four years from 2015 to 2019, the PMAY–U has witnessed sanctions of 1.03 crore houses, revealed Mr Rajan Bandelkar, President, NAREDCO Maharashtra and Vice President, NAREDCO West at an event organised by NAREDCO, Maharashtra region to commemorate the milestone. Interestingly, in the period between the years 2004 to 2014, only 13.46 lakh houses were built under the JNNURM Scheme, whereas between 2014 to 2020, 1.03 crore houses were sanctioned, recording a 7.7 times growth.

Thanking Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India for his vision to provide a pucca home to every urban poor by 2022 under the PMAY–U scheme and Mr Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs for taking up the scheme on a mission mode, Mr Bandelkar said, “The PMAY–U has brought the much needed urban transformation by providing affordable housing for urban poor and brought employment prospects for many triggering the growth in the real estate sector. Various fiscal and financial measures introduced by the Finance Minister to boost affordable housing sector and reforms for ease-of-doing business in construction impacted the growth of real estate sector.”

Mr Bandelkar informed that the PMAY–U has achieved a record growth of 1418% in 2019 with a sanction of 1.03 crore houses as against 7.26 lakh houses sanctioned in 2015 when the scheme was first started. “This huge leap speaks about the resolve and the pace with which this mission is progressing. This could probably the biggest scheme of public, private and people’s partnerships,” added Mr Bandelkar.

According to a Booklet ‘Urban Transformation Through Housing For All’ released at the event, out of 1.12 crore housing demand, 1.03 crore houses have been sanctioned and 32 lakhs houses have been completed.

Among all the states, Maharashtra has seen 11.57 lakh houses sanctioned under PMAY – U where Andhra Pradesh topped the chart with 20 lakh houses sanctioned followed by Uttar Pradesh 15.54 lakh houses, Tamil Nadu 7.36 lakh houses, revealed the booklet.

The event was attended by dignitaries such as Mr Gaurav Jain, Pradeep Agarwal and Brig R R Singh.

Some Quick Facts:

Year –on –Year sanctions:

2015-16: 7.26 Lakh houses

2016-17: 16.76 Lakh houses

2017-18: 41.63 Lakh houses

2018-19: 80.33 Lakh houses

2019-20: 1.03 Crore houses

Among other states, Gujarat received sanctions of 6.25 Lakh houses, Madhya Pradesh 7.70 lakh houses and Karnataka 6.25 lakh houses. Even the Hilly States like Uttarakhand has seen sanctions of 39,575 houses, Tripura 82,011 houses, Assam 96,989 houses, Meghalaya 4,672 houses, Nagaland 32,001 houses, etc. The Jammu and Kashmir has seen 46,497 houses and Ladakh has seen 1,777 houses.

Under the Credit-Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) where the Government has been granting Rs 2.67 Lakh through interest subsidy, about 8.18 lakh beneficiaries have been benefited. Under Beneficiary – led construction category, where the Government has been granting Rs 1.50 Lakh per house, about 62 lakh houses have been approved. For slum-dwellers also, under In-Situ Slum Redevelopment (ISSR), where the Government has granted Rs 1 Lakh per house, 4.60 lakh houses have been approved.

The initiative such as Global Housing Technology Challenge (GHTC) – India, Angikaar; a campaign for embracing complete change and CLSS Awas Portal (CLAP), have brought fresh energy in scheme implementation. It has ensured a dignified living to deprived citizens.

This scheme has generated 1.20 crore employment through forward and backward linkages with 21 sectors. It pumped 17.7 million MT cement and about 13 million MT steel out of which about 4 million MT has already been consumed.

The scheme has benefited bout 5.80 lakh senior citizen, 3.5 lakh workers, one lakh entrepreneurs, 1.50 lakh artisans, 63,000 Divyang and 770 transgenders and many more.

For interest subvention scheme, the number of beneficiaries has seen a growth of 45 times whereas the subsidy released has seen a massive growth of 912 times.

The scheme has seen a total investment of Rs 6.13 lakh crore whereas the funds released are Rs 64,000 crore.

In terms of employment generation, in 2019-20, the scheme generated about 1.20 lakh employment where the direct employment was 39.85 Lakh and indirect employment was 80.15 lakh.

Under Technology Sub – Mission, about 33 alternate technologies were identified and promoted and about 15 lakh houses were constructed using alternate technologies considering environmental, economic and social factors.

During the course of this ambitious mission, a Global Housing Technology Challenge India (GHTC – India) was launched to identify and mainstream innovative and proven construction technologies from across the globe, which are cost-effective, climate and disaster resilient, sustainable and green.

Some shortlisted technologies will showcase 6 Light House Projects (LHPs) in 6 states through the challenge process as Live Laboratories.

Various tech-enabled processes were utilized such as web-demand capture, demand location by ULBs, Aadhaar seeding, Geo-tagging, Digitalisation of Bank Accounts, Direct Benefit Transfers, etc.

Through Geo Tagging, the Bhuvan Mobile App was launched 30 Lakh BLC houses were geo-tagged and through NIC Mobile App, 1,100 projects were geo-tagged. 

Some mandatory reforms were undertaken such as removal of NA permission from residential zone of Master Plan, earmarking of land for affordable housing in Master Plan, single-window time-bound building approval system, adoption of pre-approved building design system, etc.

Some key initiatives such as RERA, reduction in GST from 8% to 1% in affordable housing projects and from 12% to 5% in other housing projects, a setting up of an Affordable Housing Fund (AHF) of Rs 10,000 crore to reduce interest burden on affordable housing, etc. proved to be a game changer. 

A perfect synergy was established through access to finance, technology for construction, training and capacity building, reducing costs, efficient land use.