Pratibha Patil to give away Nirmal Gram Puraskar

Chandigarh, Sep 17 (UNI) President Pratibha Patil will give away 'Nirmal Gram Puraskar' (NGP) awards to selected Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) functionaries of eight North and North West states at a function in Hisar on October 17.

Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary (Development and Panchayats) Urvashi Gulati said that Central government had entrusted Haryana to host this first regional-level Nirmal Gram Puraskar (NGP) Award Function.

As many as 4000 to 5000 awardees are expected to participate in the function.

She said that 'Nirmal Gram Puraskar' was a community-based incentive scheme which had been started by the Central government as one of the major initiatives for the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) attaining full sanitation coverage.

She said PRIs functionaries from the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir would get awards in the function.

It is for the first time that this annual national level function would be organised at the regional level and outside Delhi.

UNI MA MMS1817