E-Paper
U.P. government plans to build 150 model villages in first phase, two in Lucknow
The 150 village panchayats selected in the first phase to be developed as model ones cover almost all the districts in varying numbers, with Lucknow having only two such panchayats — Nigoha (Mohanlal Ganj) and Salempur (Gosaiganj)
The Yogi Adityanath government has identified 150 village panchayats in the first phase across the state with a view to developing them as ‘model villages’ in such a way that they generate models of local level development and effective local governance that can motivate and inspire neighbouring villages to emulate, people in the know of things, said.
Government order (GO) issued by panchayati raj additional chief secretary Manoj Kumar Singh, recently, had asked the district magistrates (DMs) and all other concerned officials to make a six-month action plan to start work on the nine pre-defined themes.
“The idea is to trigger a process that leads to an integrated and holistic development of all identified villages so that they work as a unit,” an official pointed out.
“By a model village panchayat, we mean a village which is capable of sustainable development and contributing to the achievement of sustainable development goals through participatory planning, execution and maintenance of assets,” he explained.
As per the GO, the 150 village panchayats selected in the first phase to develop as model ones cover almost all the districts in varying numbers, with Lucknow having only two such panchayats — Nigoha (Mohanlal Ganj) and Salempur (Gosaiganj). Gorakhpur has the largest number of village panchayats identified for developing as model ones.
The work in the selected village panchayats will be done on nine themes/sectors -- good governance, clean and green, poverty-free, enhanced livelihood, child-friendly, engendering development for gender equality, water-sufficient, healthy, socially secured, and self-sufficient infrastructure.
“The work on these themes will be done with the help of the grants (funds) available from various sources such as performance grant, finance commission, Swachh Bharat Mission, MGNREGS and untied grants available for cleanliness,” the circular said adding “All the activities to be carried out with the help of such funds will necessarily be a part of annual gram panchayat development plan.”
All the identified village panchayats, as per the GO, will also need to achieve 100% target vis-a-vis each theme and make a self-assessment of whether they qualify to be declared a model village or not. The government also has a plan to award employees and officials that contribute to making a village panchayat a model one.
“A district-level committee headed by the district magistrate in each district will regularly monitor the projects and their progress ensuring that targets were achieved in the next six months, the GO said.
