Addressing a rally recently Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed construction of 3.5-crore pucca houses since 2015 was a great achievement by his government. Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), launched in 2015, he said his government achieved the feat. However, there are many people has had no shelter in the country. At least 2 lakh people have had no pucca house among urban population. Moreover, 6.5 crore people are living in slums.
Let us see, how the PMAY would help such people in owning a shelter above their heads.
What is PMAY?
Objective of the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana Scheme (PMAY) is to make affordable housing accessible to economically weaker sections of rural and urban areas. By 2022, Modi government targets to provide every Indian family a cement and brick house with amenities like gas, water and electricity. But, the objective is not fulfilled completely. Under the scheme, 1.14-crore urban houses have been sanctioned. But, only 50 per cent the houses have been executed completely. In fact, people will not receive central funds directly to build homes under the scheme. However, municipalities get funds under the scheme. The beneficiaries would have to pay their share to build houses. Because of low wages, if the people are not able to pay the share, the houses will remain half executed. For want of vacant space in urban areas, the housing projects have been executed on the outskirts of the main cities. People find it difficult to commute to offices from the far-off places. As a result, the interest of people to own these properties would be almost zero. As a result, they remain unoccupied.
What is the way forward?
For the PMAY to become more successful, the people should be given more financial assistance so that they would be able to build houses. The completed housing projects should get more connectivity. There should be better coordination between the Central and State Governments to overcome the hurdles in getting eligible under the scheme. If governments focus on these, the objective of providing roof over the head of every family can be achieved by 2024.
