National award drives Chillapalli gram panchayat to focus more on development works
Hyderabad: The national award received by Chillapalli gram panchayat in Peddapalli district along with Rs.75 lakh cash prize would help it in fostering more development works under its limits.
The gram panchayat won Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Satat Vikas national puraskar under women friendly panchayat category from the Central government for taking up all round development in the village. President Droupadi Murmu conferred the national panchayat awards upon 45 awardees during a ceremony in New Delhi on Wednesday.
With a population of 1081 people, the Chillapalli gram panchayat bagged the award for the year 2022-23. Explaining the factors that contributed to getting the national award, Chillapalli Panchayat Secretary M Jhansi, speaking to Deccan Chronicle on Thursday said that the gram panchayat mainly focused on ensuring proper sanitation and developing greenery, setting up village parks apart from laying roads.
As the Sarpanch Kommu Padma, Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) G Satyavathi and Secretary M Jhansi were the women, the Chillapalli declared as women friendly panchayat. Besides taking up development works, the panchayat gave employment to the women in the village to maintain parks and greenery.
The members in the self-help group (SHG) in the village set up a grocery store, chicken centre, tailoring shop and other business outlets with the help of Rs.1 crore funds. Medical camps were exclusively organized for the women to address their problems, Jhansi explained.
One of the core areas where the gram panchayat focused on was preventing child marriages. “We counseled several parents cautioning them about the ill-effects of a child marriage. We also categorically informed the parents that their daughters would be ineligible for availing schemes if marriage was performed before attaining 18 years of age,” she said.
Jhansi further stated that the plans have been drawn up to set up solar power plants to improve electricity supply and ensure more road connectivity to the village with the cash prize. “Getting an award is a big boost for us as we worked hard to improve conditions in the village,” she added.
Officials said the Central government was committed to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under the 2030 Agenda, to which it is a signatory. With approximately 2.7 lakh gram panchayats (GPs) in the country and 32 lakh elected representatives playing a pivotal role, it is essential for these local bodies to adopt the MoPR thematic approach to the ‘Localization of Sustainable Development Goals’ (LSDGs).
This approach focuses on planning and implementing the SDGs through the 'Gram Panchayat Development Plan' in a phased and comprehensive manner. To streamline efforts, MoPR has grouped the 17 SDGs into nine LSDG themes and revamped the national panchayat awards.
