RAJOURI: Two Panchayats from Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, both from Rajouri's Budhal and Dhangri blocks, have won two National Awards for impressive achievements in social and economic planning and development through Gram Sabhas. Jamola Lower panchayat has been selected for Child-friendly Gram Panchayat Award, 2020 whereas Dhangri Upper panchayat has won Nanaji Deshmukh Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar, 2020. The awards carry cash prizes of Rs 5 Lakh and Rs 10 Lakh respectively.
Jamola Lower registered impressive achievement in engaging with all dimensions of child development. The panchayat body particularly focused on improving immunization, enrollment, sanitation, teachers attendance, open defecation, girl child hygiene and mid day meal and displayed remarkable results.
Dhangri Upper panchayat saw outstanding performance through effective Gram Sabha meetings especially in respect of improvement in social and economic structure of the village. It executed planned social and economic development in a transparent way through participative democracy and ensured equal opportunity to poor, women and other marginalised groups.
Both the awards will be conferred upon respective Sarpanchs by Prime Minister of India on National Panchayat Day on 24th April. District Development Commissioner Rajouri Mohammad Nazir Sheikh lauded the efforts of RDD and said that these achievements are the outcome of people's participation in planning and execution of development works. He dedicated the awards to PRIs and officers/officials of Panchayat department.