Published Paper Details:

The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U), launched by the Government of India in June 2015, stands as a monumental policy initiative aimed at providing "Housing for All" by ensuring that every eligible urban family has access to a pucca house with basic civic amenities. This mission emerged in response to India's deepening urban housing crisis, characterized by a growing population, rising informal settlements and unaffordable housing markets for economically weaker sections (EWS), low-income groups (LIG) and the informal workforce. By June 2024, the scheme had approved more than 1.18 crore housing units, out of which approximately 83.67 lakh had been constructed and allotted to the intended beneficiaries. However, behind these impressive figures lies a complex landscape of administrative hurdles, technological gaps, data mismatches and implementation delays. This paper explores these challenges in depth, with a focused lens on the state of Punjab and more specifically, Ludhiana district, an urban-industrial hub with high housing demand and a large migrant population. Drawing from government data, official guidelines, district-level presentations and operational feedback from field officers, the paper highlights operational successes, reveals persistent bottlenecks and offers data-backed recommendations to improve future iterations of the scheme. The aim is not only to evaluate what has worked and what has not but also to propose pragmatic reforms to make urban housing in India more inclusive, efficient and citizen centric.