The award for panchayats announced by the Centre is based on their performance in rural and urban areas and is not based on the performance of the KCR government, the Vice President of the BJP’s Telangana unit, NVSS Prabhakar, said on Tuesday.
Addressing a press conference at the state BJP office here on Tuesday, Prabhakar pooh-poohed the claims of the BRS government that the awards testified to the rural development programmes like Palle Pragati launched by the government.
The gram panchayats are selected on the basis of their performance and their record in implementing Central programmes for providing basic facilities like supplying safe drinking water, sanitation, improving literacy and promoting the use of solar energy in rural areas, the senior BJP leader explained and added that Prime Minister Modi launched the programme to promote competition among gram panchayats in providing services in rural areas.
Under this programme the Centre directly sends funds to gram panchayats, he said.
The gram panchayat awards are given based on their performance and governance in panchayat areas. The award is based on the coordination between village sarpanches and district officials in implementing programmes and it has nothing to do with the performance of state governments, he said.
Prabhakar ridiculed the claim of the BRS government and some ministers who praised the KCR government for the 13 gram panchayats winning the awards.
He said a minister who went to receive the award did not understand which award was given for what. In spite of that, they claimed the awards in their account. It shows the “political bankruptcy” of BRS leaders, he said.
Prabhakar said the Centre has strictly followed guidelines and had selected 13 state gram panchayats under the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Satat Vikas Puruskar and the Nanaji Deshmukh Sarvottam Panchayat Satat Puraskar in spite of allegations by BRS ministers that the Modi government is biased against the Telangana government.
