Govt would complete its PMAY target much before 2022: Housing Minister

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the government would complete its target of building 11 million homes under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna much before 2022. Refuting some media reports that the pace of the scheme was slowing down, the housing and urban affairs minister said that he has informed Parliament regarding the progress of the government's flagship scheme, under which 4.5 million houses would be sanctioned by the end of March. Puri was speaking at a national workshop on Urban Livelihood Mission ceremony organised by his ministry here. "I see the scheme progressing at a fantastic rate. I often come across narratives which are ill-informed, without any basis. On the issue of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna, our assessment is that we need to build 11 million homes by 2022. "The scheme was started in June 2015. By end of March we would sanction 4.5 million homes. Five years are still left (to fulfill) the scheme's target. We will be able to complete our target much before 2022," Puri told reporters. On the issue of building shelters for the urban homeless, he said, "In the last six months that I have been associated with this ministry, I have had serious concern because the progress that should have been registered in setting up and running such shelters for the urban homeless has been somewhat lacking in results." The Union minister blamed some of the state governments for the slow place of the scheme and appealed to all stakeholders to make an all-out efforts to achieve the objective of providing shelters for the homeless. The Supreme Court last year had directed Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and West Bengal to place before it a road map on implementation of a scheme for the urban homeless, saying it was the government's "obligation" to help these poor people. The top court perused the affidavits filed by the three states on the implementation of the National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM) scheme and observed that they had not given a road map or a vision document on the issue.