CM Devendra Fadnavis presented the award to Kotwalbardi gram panchayat
Nagpur: Kotwalbardi gram panchayat (GP) in Katol taluka won a cash prize of Rs 1 crore in the Chief Minister’s Samruddha Panchayat Raj Abhiyan 2025-26 awards, becoming the only gram panchayat from Vidarbha to win at the state level. Zilla parishad CEO Vinayak Mahamuni said the village built roads, a check dam and a garden and cleaned its wells through public participation, which put it among the top ranks in a field of about 5,600 gram panchayats. On scoring, Mahamuni said, “It was an evaluation of 100 marks, with more than 120 points across more than seven areas. Some points carried 0.5 marks, some one, some two.”
Because of public participation and their political unity,” he said, whenever we go to the village, you see those visible changes, and they are there.
In a message to TOI , Mahamuni named three factors behind the win, which were “political consensus and public participation”, “excellent coordination with the administration” and “convergence of all government schemes”. It is not that there was just one thing,” he said. Kotwalbardi stood third in the state, tied with another from Latur district. The top-ranking GP was from Pune district. “Public participation on paper, just for the records, is one thing. Public participation that delivers results, which can be seen by our eyes, is another. Other criteria counted too. “There were other criteria too, like completion of houses, number of certificates given, pendency, schools, amenities in the school and amenities in the anganwadi. On all these parameters, this gram panchayat stood out.
Office-bearers from rival parties worked together, he said. That is the standing out point,” Mahamuni said. They are working together, hand in hand.
“The sarpanch or the body is from another party, and last year’s sarpanch and deputy sarpanch were from another party, but they do not have tussles, they are not fighting or complaining about each other.