Chandigarh (Balwinder Singh): Haryana Development and Panchayats Minister Krishan Lal Panwar extended his gratitude to Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini following the successful execution of the state-level Sashakt Panchayat Samaroh. Panwar emphasized that under Saini’s leadership, the state’s rural local bodies have received unprecedented authority, resources, and respect. By transforming panchayats into genuine stakeholders in governance, the Haryana government is consistently driving efforts to make villages self-reliant, clean, modern, and prosperous.
During the landmark event, the Chief Minister directly transferred 26.97 billion rupees to beneficiaries of various welfare schemes, a move Panwar highlighted as a testament to the administration’s focus on uplifting the marginalized. In a major boost to competitive rural development, Saini also conferred the ‘Jagrit Gram Puraskar’ upon six top-performing gram panchayats for excellence in sanitation and local development, distributing 16.6 million rupees in prize money to serve as an inspiration for other villages.
The comprehensive rural upgrade was further marked by the inauguration of 350 Atal Libraries and the launch of extensive LED street lighting projects across rural pockets. In a significant policy relief for underprivileged rural families, the government extended the application deadline to January 16, 2027, for granting ownership rights to residents who have occupied houses built on common village land (Shamlat deheh) for the past 20 years, marking a substantial step forward in social security.
Panwar asserted that panchayats will play a decisive role in achieving Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a ‘Viksit Bharat-2047.’ He noted that the central government’s historic 12-year journey of service, good governance, and poor welfare treats villages as the primary focal points of national growth rather than peripheral entities. The minister reiterated that the actual path to a developed nation passes through its villages, which must transform into clean, drug-free, educated, digital, and self-reliant hubs to drive social and economic evolution.
