"Housing For All" Target To Be Achieved By 2020, Says Union Minister

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said the target of ''Housing for All'' under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana will be achieved in 2020, two years before the deadline.

The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister said that under the PMAY (Urban), 24 lakh houses have so far been handed over to beneficiaries and the number will soon reach 50 lakh.

There are 48 lakh houses which are currently grounded, but this number will also rise to 75 lakh, Mr Puri told reporters on the sidelines of an event.

"We had decided to build one crore houses by 2022. We have already sanctioned around 84 lakh houses and I am fully confident that by the end of this year, the entire one crore houses will be sanctioned," the minister said.

"We have also received additional assessment demand of constructing 12 lakh more houses...the target of 2022 will be achieved in in early 2020," he added.

The minister exuded confidence that government will be able to fast track completion work of houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban).

Addressing the 15th National Convention of NAREDCO, Mr Puri said the enactment of real estate law -- RERA, "builder-politician nexus" has been broken, and that home-buyers will no longer be at the mercy of anyone.

The government has identified 16 technologies under the scheme.

The government has launched ''Global Housing Technology Challenge'', which aims to identify and mainstream a basket of new and innovative technologies from across the globe, which are sustainable, green, and disaster-resilient, he said.

Mr Puri said that the emphasis on the urban housing sector needs to be viewed in conjunction with the entire gamut of planned urbanisation underway in the country.