Uttar Pradesh plans to construct more than 60 lakh houses under the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)-Rural in fiscal 2025-26, nearly double the 37 lakh built in 2024-25, as published by The Economic Times.
The survey to assess housing requirements began in December 2024 and concluded in April 2025, during which over 54 lakh applications were received. Following the Centre’s decision to extend the deadline for the assessment of housing units until May 15, the state government is focusing on completing the verification and approval process.
Experts believe that the Yogi Adityanath government is using the PMAY-Rural scheme to enhance its influence in rural areas, which are electorally significant.
Launched in November 2016, PMAY-Rural aims to provide affordable housing for the economically disadvantaged sections of society. Beneficiaries are chosen through a multi-step validation process, including the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC-2011), Awas Plus (2018) surveys, Gram Sabha approvals, and geo-tagging.
The scheme targets to allocate at least 60% of the housing units to Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) households. Officials note that the PMAY-Rural scheme has contributed to reducing poverty, improving living conditions, and fostering socio-economic development in rural areas.
During a recent review meeting, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who holds the rural development portfolio, emphasized the necessity of conducting a door-to-door survey to identify eligible families.
The latest data includes over 16 lakh beneficiaries who self-surveyed their housing requirements. Surveyors have been directed to conduct comprehensive verifications to ensure that no eligible individual is overlooked.
Rural development commissioner GS Priyadarshi has sent instructions to all district magistrates (DMs) and chief development officers (CDOs), urging them to complete the survey work by May 15. Extensive publicity is also being conducted to ensure widespread awareness about the Awas Plus survey, with regular reviews and updates being provided to all district rural development agency project directors and CDOs.