National panchayat awards 2021: AP bags 17 best panchayat awards

Amaravati: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy presented the National Panchayat Awards 2021, conferred by Union Panchayat Raj Ministry to Panchayats, Mandals and Districts of the state on the occasion of National Panchayat Raj day.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the National Panchayat Awards ceremony through video conference. Union Panchayat Raj Minister Narendra Singh Thomar, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, and Chief Ministers of Various states attended the event. With the switch of a button by the Prime Minister, cash incentives have been credited in the account of Panchayats, Mandals and Districts which won awards. The Prime Minister also launched the distribution of e property cards in 5,000 villages of seven states.

Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said that the village panchayats have performed well during COVID situation last year and the same situation is present this year and they should work with same spirit.

National Panchayat Raj Day is celebrated on April 24 th as the powers were conferred to Local bodies through the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 that came into force with effect from 24th April. Marking the occasion, Union Panchayat Raj department presents awards to best performing panchayats, mandals and districts. Andhra Pradesh has won 15 awards in 2020 and 17 awards in 2021. The State has received state-level second award in e panchayat category, two awards in district level, 4 awards in mandal level and 10 awards in panchayat level. A cash incentive of Rs 50,000 for district level, Rs 25,000 for mandal level and Rs 8,000- Rs10,000 for village level depending upon the population of the village.

The Chief Minister has presented the state wide second award for Andhra Pradesh in E Panchayat category to Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy and Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Commissioner Girija Shankar. He presented the district level Awards (Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Sashaktikaran Puraskar) to Z.P CEO D Chaitanya for Guntur district and Z.P CEO Surya Prakash Rao for Krishna district. He presented Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Sashaktikaran Puraskar at mandal level to MPDOs of Sodem Mandal of Chittoor district, Kakinada Rural of East Godavari district, Vijayawada Rural of Krishna district, Penugonda of Anantapur district. Later, the Chief Minister presented awards to the panchayats of Varkuru in Kurnool district, pedalabudu of Vishakapatnam district, Gullapalli of Guntur district, Thada Kandriga, Thaallapalem,Parthavellanti, Pennabarthi of Nellore district and G. Rangampeta of East Godavari district.

Panchayat Raj Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, Revenue Princiapal Secretary V. Usha Rani, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Commissioner Girija Shankar,Land Records, Survey Settlements Commissioner Siddarth Jain, officers of various districts, mandal level officers and sarpanches were present on the occasion.