GUNTUR: The collective hard work of villagers and authorities bore fruit as Nadimpalem village in Prathipadu mandal of Guntur district bagged ‘healthy panchayat’ award as part of National Panchayati Raj Day celebrations in the State on Monday.
National Panchayati Raj Day is celebrated on April 24 every year to commemorate the historic day when the Panchayati Raj System was introduced in the country. The system was set in motion in 1993 by the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act with an aim to bring democracy at the grassroots level and empower people in rural areas. On this occasion, the State government has announced the best panchayat awards. “The efforts of the villagers and the officials resulted in drop in dengue, viral fever, and anaemia cases in Nadimpalem village. This didn’t happen in a few months or a year, it took us two years to establish a routine in order to meet our targets,” said village sarpanch Lam Ratna Kumar.
According to the official reports, the village has over 2,500 families and the population is more than 6,000. However, the population increased to 10,000 in the past few years. The village has two village secretariats with 2 ANMs and 10 PHC staff. With the coordination of the officials, the villagers conduct awareness programmes every month on a healthy diet to be followed to prevent ailments and measures to be taken to keep seasonal diseases at bay. “We concentrated on maintaining proper sanitation and took up special sanitation drives regularly at the village,” said Ratna Kumar.
Along with this, the ANMs and ASHA workers conduct a door-to-door survey to inquire about the health condition of the people at every home, and provide required medical assistance. “We along with officials visit the government school and anganwadi centre in the village and inspect the quality of the food, sanitation, and the services being provided with every Monday. This enabled the staff members to be alert and follow the protocols without fail. This led to significant drop in anaemia among children and women in the past two years,” he elaborated.
District collector Venugopal Reddy handed over the healthy panchayat award to sarpanch Ratna Kumar and lauded the measures taken by the villagers and officials. The government has also announced the best gram panchayats across the state in various themes including poverty-free and enhanced livelihood panchayat, water-sufficient panchayat, clean and green panchayat, self-sufficient infrastructure panchayat.