Uttar Pradesh Government allots Rs 24.41 bn for PMAY-Rural

The Uttar Pradesh government provided an additional boost to the Centre's flagship PM Awas Yojana (rural) by allocating a sum of Rs 24.41 billion for the implementation of the scheme, aiming to provide pucca houses for all homeless and poor families by the end of 2024. The development was announced less than a week after the interim Union Budget had earmarked Rs 32 billion for the scheme, with the goal of constructing 20 million more housing units in rural areas. In the fiscal year 2022-23, Uttar Pradesh successfully constructed more than 28 lakh housing units in rural areas, achieving almost 96% of the target set for that fiscal year. Subsequently, the state government allocated Rs 90 billion for the scheme in the financial year 2023-24. The new budgetary allocation to the sector represents the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) renewed effort to strengthen its presence in the rural sector ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections scheduled in the next few months. According to official sources, Uttar Pradesh, along with Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan, is considered one of the key states where the maximum number of housing units are proposed to be constructed in 2024-25. The Centre's rural housing scheme is set to be supported by the state version of Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana (rural), for which Rs 11.40 billion has been earmarked. This follows the trend from the 2023-24 state budget when Rs 12.03 billion were allocated to the sector.