MANGALORE: With less than 48 hours to go for the presidents of 4,959 gram panchayats to receive the Nirmal Gram Puraskar for implementing the total sanitation programme, Karnataka, in general, and Dakshina Kannada in particular have cause for cheer.

In all, 121 gram panchayats from 12 districts of the State, including 49 from Dakshina Kannada, will now receive the award instead of 109 gram panchayats as announced earlier.

The Department of Drinking Water Supply under the Union Ministry for Rural Development, which is the nodal agency overseeing the implementation of the campaign, cleared the names of 12 more gram panchayats from five districts in the State for the award on May 1.

The Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat had initially submitted names of 65 gram panchayats for the award. The five gram panchayats newly included in the list are Madanthyar, Kukkedi and Naravi in Belthangady taluk and Nellur-Kemraje and Panja in Sullia taluk.

Shimoga, with 23 gram panchayats selected for the award, stands second in the state. Kodagu (12), Udupi and Uttara Kannada (11 each), Chikmagalur (5), Mysore (3), Bangalore Urban and Hassan (2 each) and Bangalore Rural, Belgaum and Chitradurga (1 each ) make up the numbers.

Subbu Raman from a Tiruchirapalli-based non-governmental organisation made a final inspection of these five gram panchayats in the district along with three each in Chikmagalur and Shimoga and one in Bangalore Rural in the last week of April.

It was this independent inspection of gram panchayats, which has helped Karnataka's cause.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail