Rural jobs: Bagalkot zilla panchayat bags 11 awards

BAGALKOT: Bagalkot zilla panchayat has secured first place in the state for the effective implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Programme and has bagged 11 awards. ZP CEO T Bhoobalan has been selected for the best CEO award.
The awards will be presented at a function organised by the department of rural development and panchayat raj in Bengaluru on March 14.
Bagalkot district had secured second place in the implementation of MGNREGA last year.
CEO T Bhoobalan, who had won accolades for effectively implementing the Smart City project in Tumkuru when he was working there as the commissioner of Tumkuru Municipal Corporation and MD of Smart City project, told TOI that the performance was due to team effort and attributed the success to the staff at field level and cooperation from the elected representatives.
The RDPR which has instituted the awards selects the officers for the award based on the Management Information System (MIS) marks. Bagalkot ZP has bagged the award for implementation of MGNREGP and T Bhoobalan for the best CEO award.
ZP deputy secretary Amaresh Nayak, assistant programme coordinator Nagaraj Rajnal, MIS coordinator Ujwal Sakri, Badami taluk panchayat executive officer Mallikarjun Kaladagi, Guldegudd taluk MIS coordinator Suryakant Ghatkamble, Mudhol taluk panchayat technical assistant Sunilkumar and PDO of Mandur Gram Panchayat in Mudhol taluk Raju Warad are others who have been selected for the state award.
The highlight of Bagalkot ZP's performance is exceeding the target in creating person days of employment. As against the target of 57 lakh person days, the ZP created 60.26 lakh of person days of employment.
The ZP bagged first place in providing employment to 2,659 disabled workers and creating 70,516 person days of employment in this category.
Model schools
Bhoobalan informed that one school each in nine taluks had been taken up for overall development as model schools and they were provided facilities like good classrooms, playground, kitchen garden, dining cum meeting hall, staff room, and toilets among others. Under the comprehensive tank development programme, all the tanks in the district were filled and the surroundings were beautified by constructing walking path, garden and amusement park for children.