The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the continuation of the government's flagship housing scheme Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) till 2024.

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The Cabinet gave its nod to the proposal of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) wherein financial assistance is to be provided for the completion of already sanctioned 122.69 lakh houses till March 31, 2022.

'Housing for All' is one of the major flagship programmes being implemented by the government to provide all weather permanent houses to all eligible beneficiaries in the urban areas of the country.

In 2017, the original projected demand was 100 lakh houses. Against this original projected demand, 102 lakh houses have been under construction, and out of these, 62 lakh houses have been completed.

A senior official said out of the total sanctioned 123 lakh houses, the proposals of 40 lakh houses were received late (during the last 2 years of scheme) from the states/UTs which require another two years to complete them. Therefore, based on the requests from the states/UTs, the Union Cabinet decided to extend the implementation period of PMAY-U till 2024.

The scheme is being implemented through four verticals including beneficiary led construction (BLC), affordable housing in partnership (AHP), in-situ slum redevelopment (ISSR) and credit-linked subsidy scheme (CLSS).

While the Centre provides financial assistance, states/UTs implement the scheme including selection of beneficiaries.

During 2004-2014, 8.04 lakh houses were completed under the Urban Housing Scheme. Under the Modi government, the issue of providing houses to all eligible urban dwellers in saturation mode was brought into focus and the scheme of PMAY-Urban was conceptualised.

The Central assistance approved since 2015 is Rs 2.03 lakh crore against Rs 20,000 crore in 2004-2014. Upto March 31, 2022, Central assistance/subsidy of Rs 1,18,020.46 crore has already been released and Rs 85,406 crore will be released till December 31, 2024.

The continuation of the scheme based on the request of states/UTs upto the year 2024 will help in completion of already sanctioned houses under BLC, AHP & ISSR verticals.

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) has been incentivising setting of food processing industries through central sector umbrella scheme  Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (PMKSY), Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industry (PLISFPI) and centrally sponsored scheme  PM Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) scheme across all the country.

Under scheme of creation of infrastructure for agro processing clusters, a component scheme of PMKSY, the scheme is aimed at development of modern infrastructure and common facilities to encourage entrepreneurs to set up food processing units based on cluster approach and also to create modern infrastructure for food processing closer to production areas and to provide integrated and complete preservation infrastructure facilitates from the farm gate to the consumer.