Thursday, March 23 2006 19:07 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Observing that rural sanitation has remained "much neglected" for many years all over the country, President A P J Abdul Kalam today (Mar 23 2006) said people in lakhs of villages needed better living condition to transform India into a developed nation by 2020.

Giving away the 'Nirmal Gram Puraskar' to 770 Panchayati Raj Institutions - 761 Gram Panchayats and nine Block Panchayats - he said the Total Sanitation Campaign launched by the Government was an important mission as nearly 70 per cent of the country's population lived in villages.

He said it was necessary to provide them good quality of life, clean drinking water and proper sanitation facilities so that they did not fall victims to diseases. "There should be concerted action to tackle this problem," he said.

Kalam also suggested that besides the panchayats, women should be given special incentives to promote sanitation in villages. "NGOs should show societal spirit and assist in rural transformation," he said and added that the maintenance work can be entrusted to the ex-servicemen in the villages.

In a goodwill gesture, Kalam invited all the awardees over tea at Rashtrapati Bhawan tomorrow.

Rural Development Minister R P Singh

Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said rural sanitation coverage in the country had increased from 22 per cent in 2001 to about 38 per cent till February this year.

He said the Centre will make efforts to ensure full coverage by 2012 for which the Government has decided to extend Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) projects in all districts by the next financial year to achieve an open-defecation free India by the end of the 11th Plan. It is also proposed to ensure that all rural schools have water supply and sanitation facilities by 2006-07, he said.

The Nirmal Gram Puraskar is given to those PRIs which attain full-sanitation coverage and become open-defecation free. The award money varies as per population of the concerned PRIs. For a Gram Panchayat it ranges from Rs.two-four lakh and for Panchayat Samiti from Rs.10-Rs.20 lakh. For Zila Pachayat it is Rs.30-50 lakh.