Infused with facilities, Sevapuri becomes role model of growth
A signboard installed at the entrance of Sevapuri devp block office in (Barauli area) reads: Ideal Developmental Block, Sevapuri. The block is being transformed into a model developmental block of the country.
VARANASI : Amini, a little known village panchayat in ideal developmental block Sevapuri here has a panchayat secretariat equipped with Internet connection, a painted road, a wellness centre, sports ground surrounded by a boundary, garbage bins placed at different locations and rickshaw carts to collect and dispose of waste, a newly built community toilet and a veterinary centre.
These facilities are a common sight in all 87 village panchayats in ideal developmental bock Sevapuri, being developed as India’s first model ideal block by Varanasi district administration under the guidance of the Niti Aayog.
At the initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Niti Aayog selected Sevapuri block in the beginning of 2020 to make it a model by ensuring 100 percent implementation of all developmental and social welfares schemes of the central and state government in all 87 village panchayats.
A micro planning was done to develop different facilities in all 87 village panchayats by effective coordination among 14 departments, including education, PWD, health, rural development, electricity, telecommunication, agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, social welfare, skill development- MSME, women and child development, panchayati raj and labour and banking sector.
The developmental work was to be started in March 2020. Moreover, Covid-19 came as a hurdle and delayed implementation of model developmental block project for about five months. In July 2020, when Covid-19 became somewhat mild, chief executive officer, Niti Aayog, Amitabh Kant visited Sevapuri developmental block and held a meeting with divisional commissioner Deepak Agarwal and district magistrate Kaushalraj Sharma and instructed them to steer the project at a fast pace.
“Under the ambitious model ideal developmental block project, we set 141 goals, including installation of garbage bins, providing rickshaw carts for garbage collection, construction of community toilets, transformation of government primary and upper primary schools, construction and renovation of panchayat secretariats with Internet connection, registration of people for old age, divyang and widow pension, skill development training and others to achieve desired outcomes. Thereafter, work began for implementation of the schemes to achieve the targets,” said Deepak Agarwal, divisional commissioner.
Coordination, effective monitoring and rigorous evaluation together yielded desired results, said Agarwal and added that all 87 village panchayats were connected to all-weather roads, had panchayat secretariats (69 panchayat bhawans have been renovated as panchayat secretariat and new buildings of panchayat secretariat have been built in 18 village panchayats), 2577 garbage bins were distributed in these villages, a community toilet each was built in 87 villages by the department of rural development and 87 ponds were dug up and 50 local youths interested in fisheries were imparted training by the department of fisheries. Likewise, 1136 eligible people were enrolled for old age pension, 174 for divyang pension, 362 for widow pension and 282 for Mukhyamantri Kanya Sumangala Yojna by the department of social welfare.
All 87 village panchayats had Internet connection through optical fibre cables, he said.
There are around 3032 users of broadband. Agarwal said as each panchayat secretariat was equipped with Internet connection and common service centre, locals did not have to run to block office or tehsil for birth certificate, copy of Khatauni (land document) and applying for various pensions. They could avail copy of khatauni or birth certificate from the secretariat. Eligible candidate could apply for old age, divyang and widow pension at the panchayat secretariat in their village.
Schools transformed
Government primary and upper primary schools were transformed under Operation Kayakalp. Children’s libraries were set up in 124 schools and classroom floors were tiled. Boundary walls were built in 13 schools lacking it and 53 schools given electricity connection. Drinking water facility was also provided in 23 schools.
Mera Ghar, Mera School project was started in different villages to make sure that the children’s education continued. Under the project, teachers of government primary schools in the area visited villages daily and taught children of Class 1 to 5 at a common place in their village.
During his visit to Sevapuri in December, the Niti Aayog CEO paid a visit to a Mohalla school in Haathi village and lauded it. “In fact, it (the model ideal developmental block Sevapuri project) is an outcome -driven project,” said the divisional commissioner
“Using Key Performance Indicators (KPI), implementation of different developmental works and social welfare schemes in the village panchayats in Sevapuri was evaluated for 141 goals. Out of 141 goals, 122 have been achieved. Now we are working to achieve the remaining 20 goals by April this year,” the divisional commissioner said.