By Archana Sharna

Jaipur, Jun 17 (IANS): Notwithstanding the difficult times brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, the tribal-dominated Dungarpur district in Rajasthan has scripted history by becoming the first place in the state and second in the country to build 93,128 houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

The Dakshin Dinajpur district in West Bengal occupies the top position in the national list, while Hooghly in the same state is placed third.

As per the list released on Wednesday, Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon is placed fourth, followed by Kanker in the same state.

The list took many parameters into consideration and declared Dungarpur as the first district in Rajasthan to build over 93,000 houses under the PM Awas Yojana in the last one year, officials confirmed.

District Collector Suresh Kumar Ola said that different teams under Anjali Rajoriya, Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad, Dungarpur, worked hard at the ground level to accomplish the feat.

Rajoriya said that as many as 1,00,054 houses were approved under the scheme in the district of which 93,128 were completed.

Officials said that besides fighting the Covid crisis, the district officials also focused on ensuring that people do not migrate for employment and have their own roofs over their heads before the monsoon set in.

Keeping this in mind, they monitored the construction works across the district and ensured that the set goal was achieved.

They also ensured the generation of a significant number of man hours for the jobs besides creating employment opportunities under MNREGA.

Suresh Kumar Ola, along with other officials, initially filled the gaps which were seen as challenges in implementing the scheme, besides making daily field visits along with effective monitoring of the project.

Special tasks were given on Saturday and Sunday, which in turn enhanced the speed of the project, said Rajoriya.