The State Rural Development Department has decided to increase the cash prizes handed over to top villages at the taluka and district levels under a government scheme and name it after R.R. Patil, the late Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader.
Rural Development Minister Hasan Mushrif on Thursday said the department will move a proposal before the Cabinet to name the scheme after Patil. The Smart Villages scheme seeks to transform rural Maharashtra through development initiatives. Villages performing well in a range of areas, including cleanliness, health, education, environment, use of infotech and renewable energy sources, will be rewarded. Patil, a former deputy chief minister, who headed the Rural Development Department for a few years under the Congress-NCP government, died in February 2015.
The NCP leader is hailed for implementing Sant Gadagebaba Gram Swachhta Abhiyaan and Mahatma Gandhi dispute-free villages scheme during his tenure. Under the present Smart Villages scheme, a village that tops at the taluka and district levels gets a reward of ₹10 lakh and ₹40 lakh respectively, according to Mr. Mushrif.
“Our government has decided to increase the prize amounts to ₹20 lakh and ₹50 lakh at the taluka and district levels respectively,” he said.
