BHUBANESWAR: To streamline house allotment under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) 2.0, the housing and urban development department has issued a comprehensive standard operating procedure (SOP).
The SOP, specifically issued for house allotment in Bhubaneswar, covers critical areas such as eligibility criteria of beneficiaries, the mode of allotment of houses, and the handing over process of the houses.
The government of Odisha has prioritized “Housing for All” and has implemented the ‘Odisha Housing For All Policy for Urban Areas, 2022’ with a subsequent amendment in 2025 to create a comprehensive and holistic policy framework to address all aspects of housing for the urban poor.
To be eligible for a house as per the SOP, the beneficiary should belong to the concerned slum as of a cut-off date decided by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the allotment of dwelling units for project-affected families. Further, a dwelling unit should be allotted only to such a beneficiary who does not own a pucca house in his or her name, while the income of the family should not exceed Rs 3 lakh per annum to be eligible to get a house under PMAY 2.0. The SOP defines the family, which should comprise a husband, wife, and unmarried children. It states that the beneficiary or any of his or her family members should not be an employee in the central or state govt.
For the selection of beneficiaries, the SOP provides a step-by-step guide. First, the BMC should prepare the base household list from available slum data, following which joint enumeration teams should be constituted for field verification of households staying in slums. In the third step, the teams will number the houses, take photographs of the beneficiaries, note the personal data, and submit the same to the zonal deputy commissioner. Then the commissioner will validate the data, invite suggestions and objections, and issue the final list. Following the finalisation of the beneficiary, the BMC will issue a demand letter for the beneficiary to pay his or her share of Rs 1.50 lakh, following which the provisional allotment letter will be issued to the beneficiary.
As per the SOP, the BMC will also help the beneficiary avail of bank loans. It could enter into a tripartite agreement for disbursement and transfer of money directly to the bank account of the beneficiary and then make the final verification of the payment. The SOP also covers the preferential allotment of houses to beneficiaries on the ground floor. As per the SOP, only persons with loco-motor disabilities will be preferred to get houses on the ground floor of the housing project.
