Midway through the government’s ambitious Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), which promises housing for all by 2022, the Urban Development Ministry has cut down the scheme’s target.

When the project was launched in June 2015, the government had promised to construct 1.87 crore houses. “The estimation of 1.87 crore houses was based on a 2012 survey. When we did a ground survey, which is still going on, we found that the demand is less. We now peg it at 1.2 crore,” Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary D.S. Mishra said. 

Despite the revised estimates, the speed with which the project is being implemented is less than satisfactory. By 2017-18, the government was to construct 12 lakh houses under the PMAY, out of this till last year only 1.49 lakh houses have been constructed.

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