15 October 2026

Centre cancels 3.71 lakh PMAY-U houses in Andhra Pradesh over non-start: report

The Centre has cancelled about 3.71 lakh houses sanctioned to Andhra Pradesh under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U) because construction on them did not begin within the stipulated time, ETV Bharat reported on 8 October 2026. The houses were part of the first phase of the urban housing mission and had been approved before 2024, under the previous YSRCP government in the state.

What changed

According to the report, the original deadline for completing houses under the mission ended in December 2024 and was later extended at the request of Andhra Pradesh and other states. The Centre then decided to remove projects that had not been grounded, using July 2026 as the benchmark, on the basis that the extension was meant only for houses that had started construction within the prescribed period.

Key numbers

The figures match those given by Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal in a Lok Sabha reply reported by The Hans India on 31 July 2026:

19.07 lakh houses sanctioned to Andhra Pradesh under PMAY-U.
15.36 lakh taken up for construction.
3.71 lakh non-starter houses, now cancelled.
11.38 lakh completed and 10.75 lakh occupied.
Separately, 61,084 houses sanctioned to the state under PMAY-U 2.0, of which 43,947 had been grounded and 1,980 completed and handed over at the time of the reply.

The state's response

The Andhra Pradesh government has blamed the previous administration's "Jagananna Colonies" programme, saying many housing sites were chosen in hillocks, low-lying areas and places near burial grounds, which discouraged beneficiaries from starting construction. According to ETV Bharat, the state has asked the Centre to restore 1.27 lakh of the cancelled units for which geo-tagging has already been completed, and has proposed moving the beneficiaries linked to the remaining 2.44 lakh houses to PMAY-U 2.0. No decision by the Centre on these requests had been reported.

What it means for beneficiaries

Reports so far do not set out what happens to individual beneficiaries whose houses were cancelled. Central assistance under the first phase will not flow to houses that are no longer sanctioned, and the state's proposals to restore some units and shift others to PMAY-U 2.0 are still requests. Beneficiaries will need to follow announcements from the state housing department and their urban local body, and check their status on the official PMAY-U portal, rather than rely on unofficial messages.

Families in Andhra Pradesh cities who are looking for housing outside the scheme can compare rental homes and other listings on RealtyMandi, and follow scheme updates on the RealtyMandi blog.

Why it matters

The cancellation removes nearly a fifth of the state's sanctioned PMAY-U pool, about 19%. It also shows that the Centre is closing out the first phase of the scheme strictly on the basis of whether construction had actually begun, which may matter for other states with stalled sanctions.