Budget 2023 | Experts demand higher allocation to Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana amid controversies in Bengal and Odisha

Budget 2023 is just around the corner and given that it is the last full budget before 2024 Lok Sabha elections, expectations from the government are high. One of these being the higher allocation for rural spending which includes Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). In the last Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an allocation of Rs 48,000 crore for PMAY. Experts are now demanding to increase the limit.

Notably, this comes at a time when PMAY has become a political flashpoint in Bengal and Odisha.

Prabhudas Lilladher in a recent report said it is expecting Budget 2023 to have renewed focus on PMAY.

Following agriculture, the real estate sector employs the most people in India and accounts for approximately 6-7 percent of the country's total gross domestic product (GDP). Recognizing its significance, Himanshu Jain, VP - Sales, Marketing & CRM, Satellite Developers Private Limited (SDPL) said that the Central and State Governments have taken proactive measures to strengthen the real estate sector. This includes allocation of Rs 48,000 crore to the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) for affordable housing.

"Now, realtors want the government to provide an impetus package that fetches relief to home buyers on the costing front," Jain said.

The Centre on its part had initiated measures beginning with PMAY to mitigate the housing shortage problem that has precipitated massive slum pockets and shanties in the urban and semi-urban areas of the country.

"Currently, the Centre is also mulling with the proposal of bringing down the costs of under construction properties as in most instances the developers have failed in passing on the benefits of input credit tax to the home buyers, despite repeated pleas from the government. The forthcoming budget session will be keenly watched for providing relief to prospective tenants in metro cities like Mumbai. This envisages the speedy implementation of the Affordable Rental Housing Scheme (ARHS)," Jain added.

The ARHS falls under the aegis of PMAY and seeks shelter for everyone including those falling in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category.

The government launched the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) in 2015 with the objective of providing affordable housing to all citizens. The scheme was created to assist the middle-income community, economically disadvantaged groups (EWS), and low-income groups (LIG).

Through this credit linked subsidy scheme (CLSS), the government aimed to provide its beneficiaries an interest subsidy to avail loans to purchase or build a house.

The scheme is divided into two sections based on the areas it serves: Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Gramin (PMAY-G) or Rural.

The West Bengal government has written to the Centre demanding the immediate release of funds under PMAY, underlining that the state will fail to meet its March 31 deadline for building 11 lakh houses, if there is any further delay.

The letter, sent by the state on Monday, is a reply to the Union Ministry of Rural Development's 493-page communication, seeking details of expenses made as part of the scheme, an official was quoted as saying in a PTI report.

Notably, the BJP-led central government has been sending inspection teams to West Bengal to examine the allegations of corruption in the implementation of PMAY. The state, in the letter, has clarified it has already answered all the queries of the Centre, and sought pending funds at the earliest.

Under the scheme, the Centre bears 60 percent of the cost, and the state 40 percent. The official claimed the state government has borne Rs 4,800 crore, and the central government is yet to send its share of Rs 13,000 crore.

In Odisha, the BJP has threatened a mass agitation against a list of PM Awas Yojana (PMAY) beneficiaries made public by the Naveen Patnaik government, which it says has left out 1.5 lakh poor people. The state government has made the provisional list of beneficiaries public on Monday.

The state's Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water department displayed the provisional list of 9.5 lakh beneficiaries under the scheme at all the gram panchayat offices, schools, anganwadi centres and other public places in villages. BJP, however, alleged that of the 9.5 lakh names on the list, around 1.5 lakh people whose name figured in the provisional waiting list of 2018-19 was missing this time.