Gadchiroli Oct. 17 (District Correspondent) District Collector Avishyant Panda was honoured with the Outstanding Public Administration Award by President of India Draupadi Murmu today for his outstanding and remarkable performance under the Adi Karmayogi Abhiyan. Mr. Panda accepted this prestigious award at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Delhi.
Gadchiroli district has a geographical area of 14,412 sq. km. and 38% of its population is tribal. Particularly vulnerable tribal tribes (PVTGs) like Madiya Gond and Kolam live in this area. Due to more than 70 percent forest area and sparse population, providing services here was a big challenge.
To overcome these challenges, ‘Adi Karmayogi Abhiyan – Responsive Administration Programme’ was implemented. Through this, several important steps were taken to bring the grassroots citizens into the mainstream of development:
Under Adi Seva Kendras and Village Action Plan, 553 Adi Seva Kendras were established in the district. Also, about 53,000 citizens were effectively mobilized and a Village Action Plan was prepared for each village by organizing 553 Gram Sabhas, which included the needs of education, health, livelihood and infrastructure.
Over 5.12 lakh hectares of forest land was handed over to Gram Sabhas for management under the Community Forest Rights Act. Also, 497 Gram Sabhas were registered as Project Implementing Agencies under MGNREGA.
To ensure the effective implementation of these schemes, the district administration effectively coordinated and integrated with 17 different departments. Gadchiroli district was awarded for this public welfare and effective administrative model. Only Gadchiroli district was selected for this award from the state. Mr. Panda had successfully presented this model to the Government of India.
