Vellinezhi panchayat wins Aardra Keralam Award for health schemes

The Vellinezhi grama panchayat in Palakkad district has won the State government’s Aardra Keralam Award for 2023-24 for its outstanding initiatives in health sector. The award carries a cash prize of ₹10 lakh.

The schemes that won the Vellinezhi grama panchayat this covetous State-level award include the ‘Thelineer’ project aimed at ensuring the quality of drinking water sources, the ‘Vatsalyam Vellinezhi’ project aimed at improving the health of pregnant women as well as that of adolescent people, and the comprehensive immunisation programme.

The panchayat has also implemented projects like ‘Sakhyasayahnam’ aimed at improving the mental health of senior citizens, and ‘Hridayapurvam Vellinezhi’ aimed at detecting heart and kidney diseases of the people in the panchayat.

Additionally, the panchayat implemented projects like ‘Bhakshya Surakshitha Vellinezhi’ and ‘Shuchithwa Bhavanam’. It provides first aid kits to schools and offered life-saving training to children and teachers. The panchayat’s ‘Margadeepthi’ project aimed at improving people’s mental health is also popular.

At the district level, the Peruvembu grama panchayat won the first prize, Pookkottukavu grama panchayat the second prize and Karimba grama panchayat the third prize. The prizes carry cash awards of ₹5 lakh, ₹3 lakh, and ₹2 lakh respectively.