Shahkot tops NITI Aayog's aspirational blocks rankings

Coming as a proud moment for Jalandhar, its Shahkot block has received a Rs 1.5 crore award money for executing development projects after achieving the top ranking in the NITI Aayog’s Aspirational Blocks Programme. Shahkot block has been officially declared as the top-performing aspirational block in the country (Zone II).

Deputy Commissioner Dr Himanshu Aggarwal had presented the district’s achievements during a video conference with NITI Aayog officials, detailing the focused interventions made to uplift Shahkot’s performance across key parameters which included those on health, education, nutrition, self-help groups, ecology, farming and other aspects of rural development.

Sharing details, Aggarwal said, "There are 500 under-developed aspirational blocks in the country, of which there are 10 in Punjab. Shahkot is one among these. We did quite a few activities in the area. We screened 50,000 residents for hypertension and diabetes. We checked Hb level of all schoolgoing girls and gave iron and folic acid tablets to them. We shall soon test them again to get the latest figures of girls who are now anaemia-free. We taught people on how they can reduce extraction of ground water. We made soil health cards and provided farmers with laboratory reports. We also made Farmer-Producer Organisation on turmeric and maize. We shall use more money on similar projects in the block for further progress".

A former District Development and Panchayat Officer Jeenat Khehra, who is currently posted in Gurdaspur, is credited for the success by the administrative officials. Talking to The Tribune, she said she was implementing the same projects in Kalanaur and Dera Baba Nanak blocks to make these aspirational blocks come on track. "The scheme initially does not provide any additional funds or staff. The projects have to be implemented from the available resources only. We deployed Registered Medical Practitioners for the screening of people for BP and diabetes which tend to make patients prone to other diseases. We also took the services of the Senior Medical Officers in Shahkot", she said.

She added, "We also supported the self-help groups for making school uniforms and got these sold in the local government schools. We supported the groups that were engaged in hand embroidery and pickle making. We could see signs of improvement in the otherwise one of the most distressed blocks".

Jeenat had served in Jalandhar for almost a year and a half. She had moved from here about six months ago. The scheme had been rolled out by the Centre in January 2023.