Bhubaneswar: The Centre has extended the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) mission till Sept 30, 2026, terming it as the final deadline to complete pending housing units and making it clear that no financial support will be provided for projects that have not taken off till Dec 31, 2025, the last deadline.
Beneficiaries stand outside their PMAY house
According to an official communication from the ministry of housing and urban affairs, the central assistance will now be restricted to houses that were sanctioned before March 31, 2024, and are either completed or under construction as of Dec 31, 2025. Houses that remain non-starters beyond this cut-off will not be eligible for funding.The decision puts pressure on states, including Odisha, to fast-track construction and ensure occupancy within the extended timeline. Officials have been instructed to complete all pending houses on a mission mode, with the Centre ruling out any further extension beyond Sept 2026.In a letter to municipal commissioners and executive officers of the state following the Centre’s communication, mission director, Odisha Urban Housing Mission, Subhananda Mohapatra, asked them to ensure the completion and occupancy of all under-construction PMAY-U houses within the extended period.Meanwhile, data shared by the ministry shows that of the 85.27 lakh houses sanctioned nationwide under PMAY -U, around 65.27 lakh were completed by Dec 2025. However, nearly 7.36 lakh units, including a majority under the beneficiary-led construction (BLC) vertical, remain non-starters and will be excluded from further central funding.In terms of state-specific data, the Centre has approved 1.84 lakh houses under PMAY-U, out of which the state has completed 1.36 lakh houses while about 48,000 houses, mostly the BLC projects, remained non-starters. With the extension of the deadline now, the state is expected to complete most of the projects now, officials said.While extending the deadline, the Centre has capped cumulative financial support during the extended period. The ministry has warned that any incomplete houses beyond the Sept 2026 deadline will have to be completed using state resources, with no additional central assistance.For Odisha, which still has a sizeable number of houses under construction, the state govt has directed urban local bodies to expedite work. Officials have been asked to engage directly with beneficiaries under the BLC scheme to remove bottlenecks and ensure timely completion of units.Special focus has also been placed on affordable housing in project (AHP) and in-situ slum redevelopment (ISSR) projects in urban centres such as Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Rourkela, where authorities have been instructed to complete beneficiary identification and allotment within the stipulated timeline.
