As an initiative of Rural Development Department of Govt of J&K, a group Thirty Eight of Sarpanchs from J&K and Ladakh UTs alongwith two Nodal Officers, one each from Jammu and Srinagar visited different villages in the State of Maharashtra. This was a five day tour-cum-training programme w.e.f. 03.02.2020 to 07.02.2020. It was an exposure visit and Travelling Workshop on the best practices in Panchayati Raj Institutions in the State of Maharashtra. The main purpose of the visit was to gain hands on experience about the implementation of three tier functions of Panchayati Raj system in certain model villages in the State of Maharashtra. The programme was organized under the directorship of Dr. R V Pole from the Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration (YASHADA), Pune, Maharashtra. The Nodal Officer from Jammu was Shri Kuldeep Sharma, BDO Udhampur and Mohd Ashraf Mir, BDO Tangmarg from Srinagar.
The group of Sarpanchs from J&K visited several villages which included Village Hiware Bazar under the Sarpanch Sh. Popatrao Pawar, Padmashree Awardee. The team also visited Ralegan Siddhi village of Padmashree Anna Hazare and Village Dongargaon of Shri Kailas Pathare in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. The group of Sarpanchs was highly impressed to see the development in these villages and the mode of implementation of Rural Development Schemes, participatory planning, etc. They held discussions with Sarpanchs, ER Officials and exchanged ideas with regard to implementation of Schemes in J&K. The development scenario of the model villages was displayed in the form of power point presentations at the YASHADA. There were several phases of interactions in which exchange of ideas from both sides took place.
The Sarpanchs were highly impressed and termed this tour-cum-training programme as highly informative and hugely successful and thanked the Nodal Officers who were proactive and took absolute care of things which made this programme successful. Shri Rakesh Kumar Koul, Sarpanch, Brah, Anantnag and Shri Chaman Lal Dhar, Sarpanch, Hugam, Anantnag, Halima Bano, Sarpanch Karalpora Budgam, Sonam Angchuk, Sarpanch from Leh, Tsering Dolma, Sarpanch from Kargil, Sakshi Chowdhary, Sarpanch from RS Pura, Abha Jamwal, Sarpanch Jagti, Uttam Chand, Sarpanch Bani, Akeel Ahmed Beig, Sarpanch Banihal, Sandeep Singh, Sarpanch Paryot, Doda, Baldev Singh Rana, Sarpanch Kishtwar were among the Sarpanchs in group visiting Maharashtra.