Agartala, June 03: In an example of inclusive, participatory and sustainable rural development, Tripura has secured three National Panchayat Awards.

Tripura’s Sepahijala bagged ‘Best District Panchayat’ award while Kanchanbari Panchayat (Kumarghat, Unakoti district) has been awarded as best ‘Healthy Panchayat’ and Baikunthapur (Hezamara, West Tripura district) has been adjudged as third best (joint) ‘Women-Friendly Panchayat’.

Sabhadhipati of Sepahijala Zilla Parishad Supriya Das Dutta and Sepahijala District Magistrate Shddhartha Shiv Jaiswal received the ‘Best District’ award in New Delhi while the representatives from Kanchanbari and Baikunthapur Panchayats received the two other awards.

The prize money for Sepahijala district is Rs. 5 crore followed by Rs. 1 crore for Kanchanbari Panchayat and Rs. 25 lakh for Baikunthapur Panchayat.

Tripura Panchayat Minister Kishor Barman hailed the achievements and congratulated all the award-winning institutions, elected representatives, officers, employees, and everyone associated with this success.

In a message, he wrote, this achievement is a recognition of the collective efforts of Tripura’s Panchayati Raj system, elected representatives, administrative officials, employees, and above all, the people. This accomplishment will inspire us to build a more responsible, transparent, and people-centric system of local governance.

According to PIB, the awards recognise the exemplary contributions of Panchayats across the country towards fostering inclusive, participatory and sustainable rural development, in line with the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047. 

The National Panchayat Awards 2025 were conferred today on 42 outstanding Panchayats from across the country in New Delhi by Union Minister of Panchayati Raj and Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh.

The National Panchayat Awards are conferred annually by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj to recognise and incentivise best-performing Panchayats for their exemplary contributions to inclusive, participatory and sustainable rural development.

The awards framework was comprehensively revamped in 2023 and aligned with the nine themes of Localisation of SDGs, making the assessment more holistic, transparent and future-oriented. NPA 2025 was conferred across two major categories namely, the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Satat Vikas Puraskar (DDUPSVP) awarded to 34 Gram Panchayats from 17 States and Union Territories for distinguished performance across nine themes and the Nanaji Deshmukh Sarvottam Panchayat Satat Vikas Puraskar (NDSPSVP) was conferred on 8 Panchayats comprising 3 Best District Panchayats, 2 Best Block Panchayats and 3 Best Gram Panchayats, recognised as the best-performing entities on an overall basis.

Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj Prof. S. P. Singh Baghel, Minister of Transformation and Development, Labour Welfare, Tea Tribes & Adivasi Welfare, Government of Assam, Rameswar Teli, Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Vivek Bharadwaj, senior officials  of the centre and state along with elected representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions from various States and Union Territories were present.