Madhya Pradesh has received 11 awards at the ‘Steps towards Excellence’ programme, including four for its excellent performance in India and seven for urban civic bodies in different categories.

MP Urban Development and Housing Department Principal Secretary Neeraj Mandloi received the awards on behalf of Madhya Pradesh from Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Tokhan Sahu at a function in New Delhi on July 18.

Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav expressed happiness over the state getting the awards in various categories at the ‘Systematic Progressive Analytical Real-time Ranking Award (SPARK)’ ceremony in the ‘Steps towards Excellence’.

Madhya Pradesh got the first position in the PM Swanidhi Yojana, in both the Best Performing State (Loan Performance-Large State) and Best Performing State (Innovation and Best Practices) categories.

Similarly, in the DeNational Urban Livelihood Mission scheme, the state stood first in two categories. These include the ‘Best Performing State under Best Innovation and Technology’ and ‘Best Social Infrastructure’ categories.

The state also secured first position in the ‘PM Street Vendor Scheme by distributing more than 11.95 lakh loans to beneficiaries. As per officials, more than 8.38 lakh street vendors are transacting digitally under the ‘PM Street Vendor Scheme’. These street vendors have received cash amounting to about Rs 21 crore from the banks.

Presently, Madhya Pradesh has achieved 101.26 per cent against the total target of loans.

Officials informed that the urban civic bodies of the state have also received seven awards in various categories. Among these, the urban bodies of Ujjain, Khargone, and Sarani were awarded under ‘PM Self-Fund’, and urban bodies of Jabalpur, Sidhi, Mandsaur, and Itarsi were awarded under the ‘De-NULM’ scheme.

Officials said under the PM Swanidhi Yojana, Ujjain Municipal Corporation received the first prize for best performance in the ‘loan performance’ category among local bodies with a population of 1 to 10 lakh. Sarani Municipal Council received the third prize in this category among cities having a population of less than 1 lakh.

The Khargone Nagar Palika received the third prize for best performance in the category ‘Achievement in prosperity from self-funding’ among local bodies with a population of 1 to 10 lakh. Under the DE-NULM scheme, Jabalpur has been awarded in the best urban local body category with a population of more than 10 lakh.

Sidhi has been given the second prize, and Mandsaur and Itarsi have been given the third prize for the implementation of the De-NULM scheme.