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New Delhi : According to information provided by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, as per census 2011, the number of houseless people in India was 17,73,040 which includes 9,38,348 from urban areas and 8,34,692 from rural areas. The Ministry of Rural Development has informed that there is no provision for temporary accommodation under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G).

In pursuance of the Government’s vision of “Housing for All”, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) is implementing Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) since June 25, 2015, for giving Central assistance to States/ Union Territories (UTs) for providing all-weather pucca houses to all eligible urban households including urban homeless persons. States/ UTs have undertaken demand survey under PMAY-U for assessing actual demand of housing.

Based on the project proposals submitted by the States/ UTs as per their assessed demand of houses under PMAY-U, around 114 lakh houses have been sanctioned across the country. Against the total sanctioned houses 52.88 lakh have been completed/ delivered to beneficiaries and remaining are at various stages of construction/ grounding.

Construction of houses under PMAY-U involve investment of Rs 7.52 lakh crore which includes Central assistance of Rs 1.85 lakh crore. So far, Central assistance of Rs. 1.03 lakh crore has been released, according to a PIB release.

The Ministry of Rural Development is implementing Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) with effect from Apri 1, 2016, to provide assistance to eligible rural households for construction of 2.95 crore Pucca houses with basic amenities to achieve the objective of “Housing for All”. Under PMAY-G, the beneficiaries are provided unit assistance of Rs 1.20 lakh in plain areas and Rs. 1.30 lakh in difficult areas, IAP districts and Hilly areas for construction of house.

Providing land to the landless PMAY-G beneficiaries for the construction of the houses is of utmost importance since they are among the most deserving beneficiaries. Provision of land to beneficiary is State responsibility. As reported by the States/ UTs, out of the total 4,46,058 landless beneficiaries identified in the entire Permanent Wait List (PWL) so far 2,02,719 have been provided land and 3,128 have been provided financial assistance for the land purchase for the construction of houses.

This information was given by Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowermen A Narayanaswamy in a written reply in Lok Sabha on December 21, 2021, according to a PIB release.