Lok Sabha Question No. 4829 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-21
Subject: Challenges under Urban Development Sector
Ministry: HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS
Asked by: Shri Zia Ur Rehman

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4829

TO BE ANSWERED ON AUGUST 21, 2025

## CHALLENGES UNDER URBAN DEVELOPMENT SECTOR

NO. 4829.

SHRI ZIA UR REHMAN:

Will the Minister of HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  is  aware  of  the  key  challenges  in  the  urban development sector including delays in housing project completion, inadequate  urban  infrastructure,  rising  cost  of  urban  living  and  issues related to waste management and water supply in Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities; and
- (b) if so, the details of the steps being taken under the schemes like Pradhan Mantri  Awas  Yojana  -  Urban  (PMAY-U),  Smart  Cities  Mission  (SCM),  Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0, Swachh Bharat Mission - Urban (SBM-U) and initiatives to promote sustainable urban mobility, affordable housing and ease of living through digital governance?

## ANSWER

## MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE (SHRI TOKHAN SAHU)

- (a) & (b): As  per  the  provisions  of  Article  243  W  of  the  Constitution,  in conjunction with the Seventh and Twelfth Schedules, matters relating to urban development fall within the purview of States/ Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). However, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) provides programmatic support to the States/ Union Territories (UTs) in their urban development agenda through its various flagship Missions/ Programmes viz. Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U) 2.0, Smart Cities Mission (SCM), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0, Swachh Bharat Mission - Urban (SBM-U) 2.0, Urban Transport (UT), etc.

Through  these  Missions/Schemes,  the  Central  Government  approves  the State  Plans  and  provides  the  Central  Assistance  (CA)  to  the  States.  The projects are selected, designed, approved and executed by the States/UTs and the cities. The State Governments release funds to the cities/districts.

PMAY-U: 'Land' and 'Colonization' are State subjects. Therefore, schemes related  to  housing  for  their  citizens  are  implemented  by  States/UTs. However,  MoHUA  supplements  the  efforts  of  States/  UTs,  by  providing Central  Assistance  under  Pradhan  Mantri  Awas  Yojana-  Urban  (PMAY-U) since  25.06.2015  to  provide  pucca  houses  to  eligible  urban  beneficiaries across the country. PMAY-U is a demand driven scheme and Government of India  has  not  fixed  any  state  wise  target  for  construction  of  houses. Participating  States/UTs  have  prepared  project  proposals  in  consonance with the scheme guidelines, based on the demand for houses in urban areas and submitted to this Ministry for release of admissible Central Assistance.

Based on the learnings from the experiences of implementation of PMAY-U, MoHUA has revamped the scheme and launched PMAY-U 2.0 'Housing for All' Mission  with  effect  from  01.09.2024  for  implementation  in  urban  areas across the country to support one crore additional eligible beneficiaries with an estimated government subsidy of ₹2.30 lakh crore through four verticals i.e., Beneficiary Led Construction (BLC), Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP), Affordable Rental Housing (ARH) and Interest Subsidy Scheme (ISS). In  order  to  enhance  the  affordability  of  the  houses,  State/UT  share  is mandatory under PMAY-U 2.0. Apart from the minimum State/UT share, the State/UT Governments may also provide additional top-up share to increase affordability.

As per the Scheme Guidelines of PMAY-U 2.0, States/UTs conduct demand survey  in  their  respective  jurisdiction  and  validate  the  beneficiaries  to ascertain  eligibility.  Eligible  citizens  are  also  allowed  to  apply  through Unified Web Portal of PMAY-U 2.0 and register their demand. After fulfilling the  procedures  laid  down  in  the  Scheme  Guidelines,  the  houses  are approved by State  Level  Sanctioning  and  Monitoring  Committee  (SLSMC) and forwarded to Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) for consideration of release of Central Assistance.

SCM: Cities under the Smart Cities Mission have been developed based on Smart  City  Proposals  (SCPs)  received  from  States/UTs  across  various sectors  viz.  smart  mobility,  Water,  Sanitation,  Hygiene  (WASH),  smart governance, smart energy, environment etc., duly approved by State High Powered Steering Committee (HPSC).

As on 31st July, 2025, in the 100 cities selected under Smart Cities Mission (SCM), out of a total 8,063 projects amounting to ₹ 1,64,695 crore, 7,636 projects amounting to ₹1,53,977 crore have been completed.

AMRUT  2.0:  Atal  Mission  for  Rejuvenation  and  Urban  Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0 scheme has been launched on 01 October 2021 in all ULBs/ cities,  enabling  the  cities  to  become  'self-reliant'  and  'water  secure'. Providing universal coverage of sewerage & septage management in 500 AMRUT cities is one of the major focus areas of AMRUT 2.0. Rejuvenation of water bodies, development of green spaces and parks are other components of  the  Mission.  Under  AMRUT  2.0,  States/UTs  are  empowered  to  select, appraise, prioritise and implement the projects within the broad framework of Mission guidelines.

State  Water  Action  Plans  have  been  approved  for  8,873  projects  worth ₹1,94,172.99  crore  which  includes  3,571  water  supply  projects  worth ₹1,18,421.92 crore, 586 Sewerage & Septage Management projects worth ₹68,461.78 crore, 3,032 water body rejuvenation projects worth ₹6,210.66 crore and 1,684 parks projects worth ₹1,078.63 crore.

Approved projects cover 178 lakh new water tap connections, 69 lakh new sewer  connections,  development  of  Water  treatment  capacity  of  11,271 MLD, and Sewage treatment capacity of 6,964 MLD.

Urban Transport: At present, about 1,055 km of metro rail network (including 55 kms of RRTS network) is operational in 24 cities across the country. Since June 2024 to till date, Government of India has sanctioned Metro Projects costing more than Rs. 1 lakh crore for construction of almost 240 kms of metro network. In the country, 1.1 crore passengers are travelling daily by Metros.

PM-eBus Sewa Scheme: This scheme, launched on 16th August, 2023, aims to augment city bus operations in urban areas with Central Assistance (CA) of  Rs.20,000  crore  for  deploying  10,000  electric  buses  on  Public  Private Partnership (PPP) model. As per the extant guidelines of the Schemes, cities with a population between 3-40 lakhs and other State/UT Capitals with less than 3 lakh population as per census 2011 are eligible to participate in the scheme.

SBM-U:  To  meet  the  sanitation  related  demand  of  the  Urban  Population, Government of India launched the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) on October 2, 2014 with the objective of Open Defecation Free (ODF) and for scientific processing of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generated in the urban areas of the country. To carry forward the progress made, Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM-U) 2.0 has been launched on October 1, 2021 for a period of five  years  with a  vision of achieving safe sanitation involving creation of Individual  Household Latrine (IHHL), Community Toilet (CT)/ Public Toilet (PT)  and  scientific  management  of  all  fractions  of  waste  including  safe disposal in scientific landfills, legacy dumpsite remediation through source segregation. It involves release of central share assistance for setting up of waste  processing  facilities  such  as  Material  Recovery  Facilities  (MRFs), transfer  stations,  Waste-to-Compost  (WtC)  plants,  Waste-to-Energy  (WtE) plants,  bio-methanation plants,  Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste plants, sanitary landfill, mechanized sweeping equipment and bioremediation of legacy dumpsites.

Under SBM - U, the total financial outlay of the States and UTs for the entire Mission Period is ₹62,009 crore, including committed Central Assistance of ₹14,623 crore. Under SBM - U 2.0, the total financial outlay of the States and UTs for the entire Mission Period is ₹1,41,600 crore, including committed Central Assistance of ₹36,465 crore.

National  Urban  Digital  Mission:  Digital  governance  in  the  urban  domain ensures easy, timely, and hassle-free multi-channel access to  G2C (Government-to-Citizen)  services,  reducing  reliance  on  physical  visits.  By integrating  payments,  applications,  grievance  redressal,  and  other  G2C services into unified platforms, it enables stronger service level agreement (SLA) compliance, real-time monitoring, and greater transparency. Under the National  Urban  Digital  Mission  (NUDM),  the  UPYOG  (Urban  Platform  for deliverY of Online Governance) serves as shared Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), providing several ready-to-use urban services.

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