3.5 mn houses delivered to PMAY-Urban beneficiaries so far: H S Puri

At least 3.5 million houses have so far been delivered to beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY-Urban) while 6.5 million houses are currently under construction, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday.

Puri said an estimated 36.5 million jobs would be generated in the construction of all sanctioned houses under the mission and of these, about 16.5 million jobs would have already been generated.

The government has set a target of 11.2 million houses in urban areas by 2022 under PMAY - ''Housing for All'', one of the flagship programmes of the Narendra Modi government.

The Union Housing and Urban Affairs minister was addressing a webinar to mark the 5th anniversary of PMAY (U), Smart Cities Mission (SCM) and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).

He said India has undertaken one of the most comprehensive planned urbanisation programmes in the history of the world.

According to the ministry, the houses built under PMAY(U) and earlier schemes of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) have served as a boon in the fight against Covid-19.

Presently more than 22,000 houses are being dedicatedly used as Covid-19 facility units in various states and Union Territories, Puri said.

Talking about another Mission - AMRUT, the minister said the ministry has so far provided 7.9 million household water tap connections and 45 lakh sewer connections in the country.

"Seventy-six lakh conventional streetlights have been replaced with energy-efficient LED lights which have led to energy savings of 167 crore units per annum, resulting in a reduction in CO2 emission by 1.3 million tonnes per annum," he also said.

About the Smart Cities Mission, he said the Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCC) developed under the mission have helped cities in their fight against Covid-19.

Forty-seven operational ICCCs became war-rooms and have played an effective role in Covid response, the minister said.

He added that 5,151 projects worth over Rs 2 trillion were identified in 100 smart cities.

"So far, the mission has tendered around 4,700 projects worth Rs 1,66,000 crore which is about 81 per cent of the total projects proposed," Puri said.