Odisha has been conferred with the prestigious Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) Award 2021, for ‘Best Policy Initiatives by State’ under the special category.

The award was given to the state during the three-day Indian Urban Housing Conclave, held at Rajkot in Gujarat, starting from Wednesday.

Union minister of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) Hardeep Singh Puri presented the award to the Odisha government on Wednesday.

On behalf of Odisha, municipal administration director and mission director, Jaga Mission, Sangramjit Nayak, along with mission director, Odisha Urban Housing Mission-AWAAS, Debasish Singh, received the award.

“The Government of India has recognised Odisha as a state that has pioneered in creating solutions for the landless urban poor, by providing them with the security of tenure under its flagship initiative Jaga Mission, which has further helped beneficiaries in housing assistance under PMAY-U. The innovation around leveraging such convergence of schemes by the Odisha government has been highly appreciated at the event,” said a government press release.

One of the major highlights of the state government’s initiative is the convergence of Jaga Mission (focuses on addressing the land rights and other basic amenities issues at slums) with the Odisha Urban Housing Mission (OUHM) to provide land rights and housing to beneficiaries.