launching a special drive to select Panchayats for the national award — Panchayat Empowerment Award, 2013-14, Punjab Government would shortlist those Panchayats for the award which have done excellent work for the overall development of villages.
“In order to shortlist Panchayats, a special criteria has been devised which would evaluate its performance on various parameters like infrastructure development of village, social activities and better management and uses of Panchayat Funds, among others,” said State Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Surjit Singh Rakhra. He said the department has asked all panchayats to fill specified questionnaire mentioning their achievements so that their case could be forwarded to the Union Government for the National Awards. Rakhra said questionnaire containing 100 questions with 100 marks have been sent to Panchayats, and have been asked to submit the same to the State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) by November 18. The performance of Panchayats would be monitored by the committee of experts, he added.
Rakhra appealed all the Gram Panchayts, Block Smitis and Zila Parishads to fill and submit questionnaires in time, failing which they would be deprived off award and futuristic assistance. Panchayats could contact SIRD for further information or could log on to official website, he added.