Centre approves construction of 1.23 lakh houses under PMAY-Urban

The government has approved the construction of 1.23 lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), taking the total number of houses sanctioned under the scheme to over 90 lakh, a statement said on Thursday.

The approval was given by the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) on Wednesday evening.

"The CSMC, headed by Union Housing and Urban Affairs secretary Durga Shanker Mishra, approved 630 proposals from participating states for construction of 1.23 lakh houses with an overall investment of Rs 4,988 crore," it stated.

For West Bengal, approval was given for 27,746 houses, while Tamil Nadu got approval for construction of 26,709 houses under the PMAY (U), followed by Gujarat (20,903), Punjab (10,332), Chhattisgarh (10,079), Jharkhand (8,674), Madhya Pradesh (8,314), Karnataka (5,021), Rajasthan (2,822) and Uttarkhand (2,501).

With this approval, over 90 lakh houses have so far been sanctioned against the target of 1.12 crore by 2022 under PMAY (Urban), a flagship programme of the Modi government.

"So far, an overall investment of Rs 5.54 lakh crore has been approved which includes Rs 3.01 lakh crore from the central and state governments while Rs 2.53 lakh crore as the private investment," the ministry said in the statement.

Around 53.5 lakh houses are so far grounded for construction, it stated. Under PMAY (Urban), the government provides financial assistance to beneficiaries.

Last month, Union Housing and Urban Affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said that the target of 'Housing for All' would be achieved in 2020, two years before the deadline.