Y.S. Rana ,Chandigarh, Feb10 : Going by the precept that India can shine only if Bharat does, the Haryana Government has resolved to make its villages hold a candle to any developed sector of the State. Out to make all its villages wear an urbane look, equip them with rural sanitation and improve the quality of life of its rural poor, its persistent rural sanitation efforts have paid rich dividend. The state ranks third in rural sanitation in the country after Himachal Pradesh and Kerala, which occupy the first and second slot respectively.
Disclosing this here on Thursday while she was presiding over the state level selection committee to finalize the state-level awards under Mukhyamantri Sanitation Incentive Puraskar Yojna -2010-11.
Gram Panchayats of Madhuban and Yamunanagar have been selected for the State Awards under Category A having population of up to 1500, village Bado Brahmanan of Hisar District under Category B having population from 1501 to 4000;
and village Mehlawali of Yamunangar District under category C having population of above 4,000. The villages which bagged the awards would be given cash prizes of Rs 3 lakh, Rs 5 lakh and Rs 7 lakh, respectively.
The Chief Secretary told the meeting that the Gram Panchayats had been selected for awards at three levels–block, district and state–through a defined process and in all 444 awards had been given. Explaining the selection process, Mrs Gulati said that in the first stage, block level selection committee selected Gram Panchayat for block level award based on given indicators like well-maintained schools, anaganwaris, other public buildings, ponds and community toilets, proper collection and disposal of waste, both liquid and solid etc.
Third-party verification for independent assessment of the block-level award winning Gram Panchayats was carried out for selection for the district and state level awards. District-level selection committees, in turn, select Gram Panchayats for
district-level awards on the basis of the score obtained during the third-party verification. Finally, the state-level selection committee selects gram panchayats for state-level awards on the basis of the third-party verification report, and recommendations of respective district-level selection committees.
The Centre for Rural Research & Industrial development (CRRID), Chandigarh, had undertaken the task of verification for selection of Gram Panchayats for district and state level awards. Mrs Gulati said that sustainability awards would also be given to 13 villages on the basis of verification report of CRRID. These weresituated in the districts of Ambala, Bhiwani, Faridabad, Gurgaon,Jhajjar, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Mewat, Panipat, Rohtak, Sirsa, Sonipat and Yamunangar. Out of these villages, Lowa Khurd falling in district Jhajjar had topped the list of sustainability award with 78 points followed by village Nautaki of Mewat with 72 and village Jattal of district Panipat and village Marodi Jattan of Rohtak each with 71points.
As many as 61 villages were in race for the sustainability award.Yamunanagar, Sonipat, Hisar and Sirsa are the top performing districts and improvement has also been made by Panchkula district.The Chief Secretary lauded the efforts of the Rural Department for the efficient sanitation drive. As many as 259 villages had bagged the
Niraml Gram Puraskar. Mrs Gulati said that the award winning Gram Panchayats have now moved to the next level and three awards would also be given to the first three districts maintaining the sanitation sustainability.