Examiner News Desk | Srinagar:
Jammu and Kashmir has completed and handed over nearly four out of every five houses sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) and PMAY-U 2.0, marking a significant milestone in the Centre’s flagship urban housing programme.
According to a written reply by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in the Rajya Sabha, 35,961 of the 45,982 houses sanctioned for the Union Territory since the scheme’s launch have been completed and occupied, translating into a completion rate of 78.2 per cent. Significantly, every completed house has already been allotted to a beneficiary, reflecting a 100 per cent occupancy rate.
The figures indicate that while the programme witnessed slow progress during its initial years, Jammu and Kashmir has accelerated construction in recent years, with the focus shifting from approving new houses to completing the backlog of pending projects.
Slow start, steady expansion
The PMAY-U journey in Jammu and Kashmir began modestly in 2015-16, when only 104 houses were sanctioned. All of them were completed and occupied during the same year.
In 2016-17, sanctions increased sharply to 2,923 houses, but construction lagged significantly, with only nine houses completed. The gap between approvals and construction persisted over the following years as new projects continued to be sanctioned faster than they could be delivered.
The programme gathered momentum in 2017-18, when 4,004 houses were sanctioned, although only 41 were completed during the year.
The largest expansion came in 2018-19, when 11,653 houses—the highest annual sanction under the scheme in Jammu and Kashmir—were approved. While only 3,286 houses were completed that year, the figures suggested that work had begun simultaneously on both newly sanctioned and previously approved projects.
Pandemic slows approvals, not construction
The pace of fresh sanctions moderated in 2019-20, with 8,482 houses approved, before falling sharply to 1,215 in 2020-21, largely coinciding with the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the slowdown in approvals, construction activity remained relatively resilient, with 2,374 houses completed during the pandemic year, indicating that work continued on projects sanctioned earlier.
The programme rebounded in 2021-22, when 10,260 houses were sanctioned and 3,827 completed.
Shift from approvals to delivery
From 2022-23 onwards, the scheme entered a new phase marked by a decisive shift towards completing existing projects rather than sanctioning new ones.
Although only 266 houses were approved during 2022-23, the year recorded 6,622 completions—the highest annual completion figure since the scheme began in Jammu and Kashmir.
The trend continued in 2023-24, when 3,677 houses were sanctioned and 3,626 completed, suggesting that approvals and deliveries had largely come into balance.
In 2024-25, the focus remained firmly on clearing the backlog, with only 1,272 fresh sanctions against 9,127 completed houses, one of the strongest delivery performances under the scheme.
During 2025-26, 2,126 houses were sanctioned while 4,705 were completed. In the current financial year (2026-27), no fresh houses had been sanctioned as of the date of the Ministry’s reply, although 364 houses had already been completed, indicating that construction continues on projects approved in previous years.
Backlog nearing completion
The Ministry’s data suggests that Jammu and Kashmir has entered the final phase of implementing its existing PMAY-U housing pipeline. After years in which approvals consistently outpaced construction, the trend has reversed, with annual completions now matching or exceeding fresh sanctions.
With nearly 80 per cent of all sanctioned houses already delivered and occupied, the Union Territory appears to be nearing the completion of its original PMAY-U targets, reflecting a gradual transition from expanding the scheme to ensuring timely delivery of homes to eligible urban beneficiaries.
