<span style="color: #222222;">Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has approved the construction of one lakh seven thousand houses in five states under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban). These states are Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Puducherry and Uttarakhand. The approval was given in the 57th meeting of the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee held in New Delhi yesterday.<br />''<br />''Chairing the meeting, Secretary, in Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Durga Shanker Mishra discussed the issues pertaining to grounding and construction of houses in the States and Union Territories.<br />''<br />''He directed the State and UT officials to expedite construction of houses in their respective areas. He said that grounding should be the first responsibility, followed by focus on 100 percent completion of houses.<br />''<br />''The total number of sanctioned houses under the Mission is now one crore 14 lakh. Of which around 91 lakh have been grounded for construction and more than 53 lakh have been completed and delivered to the beneficiaries. The total investment under the Mission is over seven lakh 52 thousand crore rupees.</span><br />