Homebuyers have welcomed the Maharashtra government’s decision to extend its flagship affordable housing scheme known as the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY Urban).
The Central government had last month informed Maharashtra about PMAY-Urban being extended till September 2022, said officials from the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), the nodal agency of executing PMAY in Maharashtra.
Shivkumar Ade, Chief Engineer of MHADA, confirmed that the the PMAY Urban scheme in Maharashtra has been extended until September 2022. According to officials from MHADA, the Central government has granted a preliminary extension until September 2022. "There are chances that the scheme might be extended until 2024, and the Central government might write to us in the coming days.''
Maharashtra government had set a target of constructing 19.40 lakh houses under the PMAY scheme by 2022. According to data provided by MHADA, under the PMAY scheme, up to December, 2021 in all 1,161 projects consisting of 13 lakh dwelling units have been approved of which construction work of 4.86 lakh dwelling units are completed and that of 2.12 lakh dwelling units is in progress.
The Maharashtra government's housing department has issued a notification to fast track the approvals of the PMAY projects. "Though the extension time given is less, we need to work towards approving the projects keeping the uniformity and smooth process in mind," the notification said. The notification said an additional force of nine engineers will be stationed at MHADA that will approve the projects from the existing team of around six engineers.
As per the current procedure, MHADA is the nodal agency and all the urban local bodies including the municipal corporations and councils after approving proposals of PMAY housing projects, send it to MHADA's PMAY cell, which in turn sends it to the state government's committee for approval.
A large PMAY (U) project is coming up in the city limits of Mumbai. It comprises 4,000 apartments. This is being constructed by the MHADA in Goregaon area of western suburb in Mumbai. Private developers have not come up with projects under PMAY (U) owing to high cost of land in the city.
The Housing for All by 2022 initiative was launched by the Modi government within five months of assuming office. It’s all about ensuring a home for every Indian by 2022. To boost affordable housing and achieve the vision of Housing for all by 2022, the government (Central and State) have undertaken several initiatives, such as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) that aims to build one crore homes in urban and rural India by 2022.
With the construction of as many as 20 lakh houses yet to begin, the government is expected to extend the scheme until March 2024. Earlier, 2022 was the deadline for completing construction of houses under this scheme. The Centre has so far sanctioned 1.21 crore houses under the scheme.
