der the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), a total number of 603,854 persons have been sanctioned houses during 2015-2016, as per information provided by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India. The Ministry provided this information in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha recently.

The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Housing for All (Urban) mission was launched in June 2015 to provide assistance to the economically weaker sections (EWS) and families from the low income group to avail affordable housing facilities in the urban areas. The scheme is Centrally sponsored, but is being implemented by the respective state governments, who would identify the beneficiaries of the scheme.

Among the states, West Bengal has topped the list in providing affordable housing to its citizens. The state has helped 165,360 beneficiaries avail the scheme as of 6 March this year.

West Bengal is followed by Gujarat, where the state government has helped 127,300 beneficiaries under this scheme. Other states that have done fairly well include Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Manipur and Nagaland.

Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh have sanctioned 41,282, 10,555 and 33,470 houses respectively during the same period, while Goa has been able to identify and provide benefit to just five persons in the state.

However, states such as Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh have also not been able to perform much as far as urban housing is concerned.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has prescribed a three-tier structure for effective monitoring and implementation of the scheme, which would include an inter-ministerial committee at the Centre, a state level sanctioning and monitoring committee headed by the chief secretary of the state and a city level committee headed by the mayor of the city that would identify the beneficiaries who would be provided assistance for housing.

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