Mumbai: The state government’s promise of 22 lakh affordable homes has found no mention in the budget. The state had earlier announced that it would build affordable homes under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) but has not made any provision in terms of funds for the same. Apart from this, funds that were made available last year by the Central government and the state have also been left unused.
State finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, in his budget speech, said, “It is the dream of everyone to have one home of his or her own. Construction of 2.50 lakh affordable homes will be taken up in 2017-18. Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in various cities and towns of the state.”
However, the state government has not made any special provision for the PMAY scheme.
PMAY was mooted to meet the target of ‘Housing For All By 2022’. This is to benefit first-time homebuyers and the subsidy will be granted to those who fall under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category and whose family income does not exceed Rs 25,000 per month.
The Centre had given the Maharashtra Housing And Development Authority (Mhada) a sum of Rs 90 crore but it has since remained unused.
The only expense the state government had to spend on is floating bids for the PMAY.
In addition, the finance minister’s speech did not provide any funds for Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) which will connect Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. Along with it, the Navi Mumbai Airport and Navi Mumbai Metro Project too did not find any mention in the budget. However, the finance minister’s speech said that the state government was taking all efforts to complete these projects on an expeditious basis.
