Telangana tops national gram panchayat awards, CM KCR says matter of pride

Hyderabad: Telangana received 13 of the 46 national gram panchayat awards from the Union government on Monday, including for greenery and cleanliness, with Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao expressing delight and saying it was a matter of pride for Telangana to have won the awards in eight categories out of nine.

President Droupadi Murmu presented the awards to Telangana gram panchayats at a ceremony held on Monday at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi.

“Nearly 2.5 lakh village panchayats from across the country competed for these awards, out of which only 46 villages got them. Out of this, Telangana won 13 awards. It means 30 per cent of national awards announced have been bagged by Telangana," noted Rao while congratulating the state gram panchayats for topping the country in several development themes, including greenery and cleanliness in villages.

The CM stated that the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Panchayat Satat Vikas awards were a testimony to the state government's rural development endeavours, particularly Palle Pragathi, and have become a role model for the country. Panchayat Raj minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao and sarpanches received best panchayat awards from the President in New Delhi.

The CM congratulated   Dayakar Rao, secretary Sandeep Kumar Sultania, commissioner Hanumantha Rao, sarpanches of respective villages, MPPs, zilla parishad chairpersons and panchayati raj department officials for  receiving the national best awards.