Lok Sabha Question No. 1853 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-31
Subject: Challenges faced by Urban Poor
Ministry: HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS
Asked by: Shri  Chhotelal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1853 TO BE ANSWERED ON JULY 31, 2025 CHALLENGES FACED BY URBAN POOR

NO. 1853.

SHRI CHHOTELAL:

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

- (a) whether  the  Government  is  aware  that  a  large  section  of  the  urban population, particularly the economically weaker sections and migrants  continue  to  face  challenges  related  to  lack  of  affordable housing,  poor  urban  infrastructure  and  inadequate  access  to  basic amenities  such  as  water,  sanitation,  waste  management  and  public transport;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  steps  being  taken  under schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Urban (PMAY-U), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Swachh Bharat  Mission,  Smart  Cities  Mission  and  various  urban  transport initiatives  to  address  these  challenges,  promote  affordable  housing, improve urban infrastructure, strengthen public transport systems and facilitate slum redevelopment in urban areas; and
- (c)
- if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS

(SHRI TOKHAN SAHU)

- (a) to (c): 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 2.0 (PMAY-U 2.0), PM  Street  Vendor's  AtmaNirbhar  Nidhi  (PM  SVANidhi),  Smart  Cities Mission (SCM), 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 'Colonisation' are State subjects. Schemes related to  housing  and  slum  rehabilitation  are  implemented  by  State/Union Territory (UT) Governments  in  their respective  regions.  However, Government of India supplements the efforts of States/UTs by providing Central Assistance under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAYU)  to  provide  pucca  house  with  basic  amenities  to  eligible  urban beneficiaries across  the country  including slum  dwellers. Eligible beneficiaries can  avail benefit of PMAY-U  through  available  four verticals  i.e.,  Beneficiary  Led  Construction  or  Enhancement  (BLC), Affordable  Housing  in  Partnership  (AHP),  In-Situ  Slum  Redevelopment (ISSR)  and  Credit  Linked  Subsidy  Scheme  (CLSS).  However,  slum dweller could take benefit under any vertical.

The  scheme  is  demand  driven  and  selection  of  beneficiaries  under various verticals preferred by beneficiaries, formulation of projects and execution  are  done  by  States/UTs.  Based  on  the  project  proposal submitted  by  States/UTs,  more  than  1.12  crore  houses  have  been sanctioned under PMAY-U by the Ministry, out of which 93.61 lakh are completed/delivered  to  the  beneficiaries  across  the  country,  as  on 14.07.2025.  Detailed  information  on  the  overall  physical  and  financial achievements  under  PMAY-U,  along  with  specific  details  for  slum dweller beneficiaries, is provided below:

|   Sr. No. | Particulars                              | Overall, in PMAY (U)   | Slum dweller beneficiaries   |
|-----------|------------------------------------------|------------------------|------------------------------|
|         1 | Houses Sanctioned                        | 112.16 Lakh            | 29.37 Lakh                   |
|         2 | Houses Grounded for Construction*        | 112.74 Lakh            | 28.36 Lakh                   |
|         3 | Constructions of Houses Completed*       | 93.61 Lakh             | 19.94 Lakh                   |
|         4 | Central Assistance Sanctioned (₹ in Cr.) | 1.90 Lakh Cr.          | 44,066 cr.                   |
|         5 | Central Assistance Released (₹ in Cr.)   | 1.70 Lakh Cr.          | 35,758 cr.                   |

AMRUT:  Atal  Mission  for Rejuvenation  and  Urban  Transformation (AMRUT)  was  launched  on  25  June  2015  in  selected  500  cities  (485 cities  including  15  merged  cities)  and  towns  across  the  country.  The Mission focuses on development of basic infrastructure, in the selected cities and towns, in the sectors of water supply; sewerage and septage management; storm water drainage; green spaces and parks; and nonmotorized  urban  transport.  As  reported  by  the  State/UTs  on  AMRUT Portal, against the approved plan size of ₹77,640 crore, 6,010 projects worth ₹83,483 crore have been taken up in the above sectors.

Under AMRUT Mission in convergence with the States, 189 lakh water tap connections (new/ serviced) have been provided against the target of  139  lakh;  149  lakh  sewer  connections  (new/  serviced)  (including households covered through Faecal Sludge and Septage ManagementFSSM) provided against the target of 145 lakh; Sewer network of 21,753 km  and  water  supply  network  of  73,519  km  have  been  constructed; 4,622 Million Litre Per Day (MLD)  Sewerage  Treatment  Plant  Capacity (STP) and 4,933 MLD Water  Treatment  Plant Capacity (WTP) have been developed; 1,456 km length  of  drains  have  been   constructed.   5,092 acres of Green space, 430 km pedestrian/ walkway and 43 km of cycle track have been developed.

AMRUT  2.0  has  been  launched  on  01  October  2021  with  a  Central Assistance (CA) of ₹ 66,750 crore for projects. AMRUT 2.0 focuses on making  the  cities  'self-reliant'  &  'water  secure'.  Providing  universal coverage of sewerage & septage management in 500 AMRUT cities is other major focus of AMRUT 2.0.

Under  AMRUT 2.0,  a  total  of  8,873  projects  worth  ₹1,94,172.99  crore have  been  approved  by  MoHUA.  Approved  projects  cover  407  lakh new/service tap connections, 159 lakh new/service sewer connections, 11,271  MLD  water  treatment  plant  capacity  and  6,964  MLD  sewage treatment plant capacity.

SBM-U:  In  order  to  fulfill  the  sanitation  and  Municipal Solid  Waste Management requirements  of  the  Urban  Population,  Swachh  Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) was launched on 2 nd  October, 2014 which lasted upto 30.09.2021. The phase 2 of the Mission (SBM-U 2.0) was launched on 1 st   October, 2021 for the next five-year period i.e. upto 01.10.2026. Under  SBM-U  2.0,  it  is  proposed  to  create  Garbage  Free  Cities  (GFC) through  100%  waste  processing  and  treatment  of  used  water  in  all Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the country by 2026.

Under both phases of the  mission  the  demand of  toilets  in  the  urban area of the country have been met with the construction of Community Toilets (CTs) in slum areas where sufficient space is not available for construction  of  individual  household  Latrines  (IHHLs).  For  floating population in the cities, public toilets have been constructed. Similarly, the  issue  of  urban  municipal  waste  has  been  addressed  under  Solid Waste Management (SWM) component of the mission. In SBM-U 2.0, a new component, Used Water Management (UWM), have been added to address the waste water in ULBs with population less than 1 lakh.

So  far  63.78  lakh  Individual  Household  Latrine  (IHHL)  units  were constructed against target of 58.99 lakh as well as 6.36 lakh community and public toilets have been constructed against the target of  5.07  lakh. As  reported  by  States/UTs,  the  scientific  processing  of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in the country has increased from 16% in 2014 to 79.95% i.e. Out of 1,61,163 ton per day (TPD) waste generated, a total of 1,28,842 TPD of waste is being processed.

SCM: Smart Cities Mission (SCM) followed an area based development approach through retrofitting, redevelopment and green-field development  in  100  cities.  None  of  the  projects  under  SCM  are beneficiary-led  and  not  explicitly  oriented  to  economically  weaker section.  Cities  under  SCM  are  being  developed  based  on  Smart  City Proposals  (SCPs),  across  various  sectors  viz.  smart  mobility,  Water, Sanitation,  Hygiene  (WASH),  smart  governance,  social  infrastructure, smart  energy,  environment  etc.,  approved  by  High  Powered  Steering Committee (HPSC), received from States/UTs. As on 11.07.2025, out of a total 8, 063 projects amounting to ₹ 1,64,695 crore undertaken in the 100 cities selected under SCM, 7,636 projects (95% of total projects) amounting to ₹1,53,977 crore have been completed.

Urban  Transport: ' Urban  planning'  is  a  State  subject.  Therefore,  the respective  State  Governments  are  responsible  for  planning,  initiating and developing proposal for development  of urban infrastructure including  metro  project.  As  per  Metro  Rail  Policy,  2017,  the  Central Government considers financial assistance for Metro Rail proposals in cities  or  urban  agglomerates  based  on  the  feasibility  of  the  proposal and  availability  of  resources,  as  and  when  posed  by  the  concerned State  Government. Government of India has issued Metro Rail Policy, 2017  for  systematic  planning  of  public  transport  projects  including Metro Rails in order to achieve sustainable mobility.    At present, about …5/-

1,036 km of metro rail network including Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) is operational in 24 cities across the country. Since September 2024 to till date, Metro Rail Projects worth Rs 1.04 Lakh Crore, covering a total of 240 km, have been sanctioned by Government of India. Also, PM-eBus Sewa Scheme has been approved by Government of India in August, 2023 which aims to augment city bus operations in urban areas with Central Assistance (CA) of Rs. 20,000 crore for deploying 10,000 electric buses under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.

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