Srinagar: As the nation celebrated National Panchayat Raj Divas-2022 on 24th of April, but the celebrations in Jammu and Kashmir were unique of its kind as the Prime Minister of the country Narendra Modi celebrated the day with the PRIs of Jammu and Kashmir.
A mega function was organised in the Palli Gram Panchayat of Samba district of J&K to mark the occasion wherein some landmark initiatives were taken to further empower the Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRI) for realising the vision of Gram Swaraj in its true essence.
The event also recognised the remarkable performance of the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDD&PR), J&K towards the socio-economic empowerment of the people through the institutions of Panchayat Raj.
The department, under the able leadership of its Commissioner Secretary, Mandeep Kour has brought laurels to the entire UT of Jammu and Kashmir by achieving 08 National Panchayat Awards in recognition of the best performance by improving delivery of services and public goods. These awards were given in District, Block and Gram Panchayat categories which is a testimony that benefits of various welfare schemes and programmes have percolated in the society through different levels of administrative set-ups.
Further, adding more feathers to the cap, the Uttarakhand based NGO, Sanguine We Care Welfare Society has felicitated 03 sarpanches and 01 IEC experts from Jammu and Kashmir in recognition of their exemplary public services rendered by them at grassroots levels.
According to official sources, 03 Sarpanches from the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir namely Makhan Manas, Nanaji Wattal and Pinki Devi along with 1 IEC expert namely Aijaz Ahmad Khan from Department of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj were awarded with “Atmanirbhar Bharat Rashtriya Gramya Sashaktikaran puraskar 2022 at an impressive function held at Dehradun Uttrakhand in the wake of National Panchayat Raj Divas 2022.
The awards were presented by Rekha Arya, Cabinet Minister for Women Empowerment and Child Development, Youth and Sports Affairs, Govt of Uttarakhand along with Subodh Uniyal, Minister for Forest and Technical Education.
It is worth mentioning here that Nana Jee Wattal and Makhan Singh Manhas received the trophy and Certificates in person, while Pinki Devi and Aijaz Ahmad Khan participated virtually.
