92% target achieved in the 1st phase of Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin

Under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G), a flagship programme of the Government of India, 92% target of completion has been achieved in the 1^st phase of the scheme i.e. from 2016-17 to 2018-19. The government is confident that all the houses in the Permanent Wait List (PWL) would be completed by the end of Amrut Mahtosava.

As against the existing Permanent Wait List (PWL) identified using the SECC database of 2011, as on date 2.14 crore beneficiaries have been found to be eligible. Though this list consisted of 2.95 crore households initially, through multistage verification including at the time of sanction, many more households have been found ineligible, therefore, this list has been pared down to 2.14 Cr. and likely to go down further. Against this, 1.92 crores (90%) houses have been sanctioned and against the sanctioned houses, 1.36 crore (71%) houses have been completed. A target of 1 crore houses was set for completion in the 1^st phase of the scheme i.e. from 2016-17 to 2018-19, against which 92% target of completion has been achieved.

In the FY 20-21, a total allocation of Rs 19,269 cr was made available as budgetary support, in addition, extra-budgetary support of Rs 20,000 cr has been provided, the overall release of Rs 39,269 cr is so far the highest in any year since the launch of PMAY-G. The expenditure incurred by states including state share has also seen an unprecedented increase in the current FY amounting to Rs 46,661 cr, which is the highest since the launch of the scheme.

It may also be mentioned that since 2014-15, the pace of housing works have been considerably accelerated which includes the erstwhile scheme of Indira Awas Yojana. The substantial funding for the programme besides the emphasis on completion and other reforms have led to the completion of about 73 lac IAY houses. Thus, in total since 2014-15, about 2.10 cr. housing units have been completed under various rural housing schemes.

Under PMAY-G with the introduction of certain implementation reforms, the Government has aimed at improving the speed and quality of houses construction, ensuring timely release of funds to beneficiaries, direct transfer of funds to beneficiaries’ account, technical assistance to beneficiaries, stringent monitoring through MIS-AwaasSoft and AwaasApp.

Due to the overall reduction in the number of eligible beneficiaries from 2.95 crore to 2.14 crore as of date, A survey named “Awaas+” was conducted by all the States/UTs with the help of field functionaries for identification of those households who though eligible but have not been included in the Permanent Wait List of PMAY-G. The Ministry of Finance in July, 2020 concurred the proposal of the Ministry of Rural Development for the inclusion of additional eligible households from the final Awaas+ list into the Permanent Waitlist (PWL) of PMAY-G with a ceiling of 2.95 crores PMAY-G houses. The survey results are being vetted for eligibility and would be taken up subsequently.

The Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G) is one of the flagship programmes of the Government of India which is driven by the noble objective of providing “Housing for All” by the year 2022. It is a social welfare program through which the Government provides financial assistance to houseless beneficiaries identified using SECC 2011 data to help them construct a house of respectable quality for their personal living. The Scheme envisaged constructing 2.95 crore PMAY-G houses with all basic amenities by the year 2021-22. The scheme envisioned providing other facilities to make it an aspirational home for the beneficiaries through convergence with other schemes like Swachh Bharat Mission, PM Ujjwala Yojana for providing LPG connection and unskilled wage component of 90-95 days under MGNREGS. Significant progress has been made in this direction since the launch of the scheme by the Prime Minister in November 2016.