Seven villages from Telangana find themselves in the Top 10 list of gram panchayats. The official rankings were a part of the 'Saansad Adarsh Gram Panchayat Yojana (SAGY) that the Central Government launched in 2014.
To promote holistic development in the villages, Lok and Rajya Sabha representatives adopt 'Adarsh gram panchayats' (ideal gram panchayats) under the scheme by taking care of the upkeep and ensuring positive progress in the same.
Telangana Soaring Ahead
As reported by the Hindustan Times, each gram panchayat's development is ranked on various parameters such as village development plan implementation, improvement of basic amenities, better livelihood opportunities, enriched social capital.
For the SAGY rankings in 2021, the Rural Development ministry chose 280 villages, 35 from Telangana. Out of them, seven were featured in the Top 10. Vennampalli in Karimnagar district grabbed first place, followed by Kowlas in Nizamabad district. Other villages were Ganneruvaram, Kandakurthi, Veernapalli, Ramakrishnapur and Thana Kurd.
'Real Rural Development'
Speaking to the Hindustan Times, Telangana's Panchayat Raj Minister, Errabelli Dayakar Rao, lauded the efforts, "The villages adopted by Nizamabad and Karimnagar MPs were able to achieve top ranks because of the efforts of the state government." Also, he attributed the achievements to the 'Palle Pragati Programme'.
Further, he talked about criteria involved for judging, which included sanitation, street lights maintenance, employment generation programmes, setting up of road and drainage facilities. "The ranks were also given for growing nurseries to improve greenery, beautification of government buildings like schools and gram panchayat offices, operation of dumping yards, avenue plantation, the establishment of graveyards, etc, "Rao adds.
According to Deccan Chronicle, the 'Palle Pragati' initiative was started by K Chandrasekhar Rao's chief minister. He introduced several development projects such as Mission Bhagiratha for clean drinking water, separate wet and dry waste collection, and many others. A village in the Warangal district called Gangadevipally developed into a model village under the scheme, people from different countries visited that to understand the processes involved in project development and implementation.
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