Punjab Guv bats for inclusion of state’s border villages in NITI Aayog programmes

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The North News

Chandigarh, February 20

 Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria on Friday pitched for bringing the state’s border blocks under NITI Aayog’s aspirational districts and blocks programmes, citing the need to fill the gap left by the discontinuation of the Border Area Development Programme.

Addressing the ‘Sampooranta Abhiyaan Samman Samaroh’ organised to recognise the achievements of districts and blocks under NITI Aayog’s Aspirational Districts and Aspirational Blocks programmes, Kataria emphasised that these blocks require a robust framework to ensure they are not left behind in the nation’s developmental journey.

The government can leverage targeted transformation and convergence-based action to fill the void left by previous funding structures by integrating these border area blocks into the aspirational framework, he said in an official statement.

The governor lauded the collaborative governance that has turned development into a mass movement in Punjab. He emphasised that these programmes represent a bold shift from incremental progress to targeted transformation and from isolated schemes to convergence-based action.

Rohit Kumar, Mission Director of the programmes, said their success hinges on three Cs — convergence, collaboration, and competition. He asserted that the core objective is to transform aspirational districts and blocks into inspirational models.

Punjab Additional Chief Secretary (Planning) Jaspreet Talwar highlighted Punjab’s participation, mentioning that the state has two aspirational districts — Ferozepur and Moga — and 10 blocks across seven districts.

She highlighted that Ferozepur and Moga’s good performance under the programme has made them eligible for performance-based incentive grants. She appealed to the NITI Aayog to include border blocks of the state under this programme.