Chandigarh, April 4: The Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj has announced this year’s Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Panchayat Empowerment National Award to Zila Parishad Gurdaspur for its outstanding performance. For these national Awards apart from Zila Parishad Gurdaspur, two Block Samities and nine Gram Panchayats of the state have also been selected for various national awards.
The Punjab Minister for Rural Development & Panchayats Mr. Tript Rajinder Bajwa has congratulated the representatives of all the Panchayati Raj Institutions selected for the awards and said that these awards would encourage these organizations to work harder. He said that other Panchayati Raj Institutions should also take inspiration from the award winners and strive for better performance. Mr. Bajwa said that comprehensive and sustainable development of villages could be achieved only by strengthening the Panchayati Raj Institutions.
Mrs. Seema Jain, Financial Commissioner, Rural Development and Panchayats Department briefed that Samrala of Ludhiana district and Bhunarheri block samities of Patiala district have been selected for the awards.
Similarly Gram Panchayat Manak Khana of Maur Block of Bathinda District, Gram Panchayat Sanghojala of Dhillwan Block of Kapurthala District, Gram Panchayat Mehta of Raiya Block of Amritsar District, Machaki Kalan Gram Panchayat of Faridkot Block of Faridkot District, Gram Panchayat of Gurugarh of Machhiwara Block of Ludhiana District, Devinagar Gram Panchayat of Bhunarheri Block of Patiala District and Theh Kalandar Gram Panchayat of Fazilka Block of Fazilka District have also been selected for Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Empowerment Award.
She said that apart from these Nurpur Lubana Gram Panchayat of Dhillwan Block of District Kapurthala has been awarded Child Friendly Award, Chhina Gram Panchayat of Dhariwal Block of Gurdaspur District has been awarded Gram Panchayat Development Planning Award and Manak Khana Gram Panchayat of Maur Block of District Bathinda has been selected for Nana Ji Deshmukh Gaurav Gram Sabha Award.
Professor and Head, SIRD, Rural Development Department, Punjab Dr. Rozy Vaid said that the awards would be presented by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions during a function which would be held on April 21 on the occasion of National Panchayati Raj Day in Delhi. She said that Zila Parishad would be given about Rs. 50 lakhs, Block Samiti about Rs. 25 lakhs and Gram Panchayat about Rs. 10 lakhs award money.
