Bhubaneswar: The state govt has proposed the inclusion of 28 additional urban local bodies (ULBs) under the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) 2.0. The move will expand the housing scheme’s reach to all 100 ULBs in the state and enable more eligible urban households to avail assistance for construction or purchase of houses.According to an official order issued by the housing and urban development department, executive officers of the newly proposed ULBs have been directed to begin identifying eligible beneficiaries and initiate preparatory work for the implementation of the scheme.Officials said the inclusion of the additional ULBs would significantly widen the scheme’s coverage, particularly in smaller towns where demand for affordable housing has been growing. The newly included ULBs are Badamba, Narasinghpur and Salipur from Cuttack, and Pallahara from Angul among others.“Executive officers have been instructed to undertake beneficiary identification and facilitate enrolment of applicants in accordance with the scheme guidelines,” the department stated in its letter.A senior official said the beneficiary identification process would involve verification of eligibility criteria, including housing and income status. “The objective is to ensure that all eligible urban poor and middle-income families without a pucca house can avail benefits under the scheme,” the official said.The move is expected to accelerate affordable housing creation across urban Odisha and support the state’s efforts to achieve wider housing coverage under the Centre’s flagship programme. Sources said the beneficiary identification drive is likely to begin immediately after local-level instructions are issued by the respective ULBs.Notably, Odisha has already made significant progress in the implementation of PMAY 2.0. So far, a total of 24,625 houses have been sanctioned, out of which the ULBs have geo-tagged 23,464 sites. Foundation work has begun for 3,134 houses, while 2,008 have reached a completion stage.