The Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), during its annual general meeting held in Mantralaya, Mumbai, recently, declared its prestigious Late S S Gadkari Award for Innovation in Public Administration to Vijayalakshmi Bidari, Divisional Commissioner, Nagpur.

 

The award for this year comprises Rs 10,000 by cheque and shawl. The award will be presented to Bidari upon her return from the distinguished Humphrey Fellowship at Harvard (US). The award has been declared to Bidari for conceiving the idea of ‘e-Panchnama’, developing and improvising the application with the help of Maharashtra Remote Sensing Applications Centre, Nagpur. Bidari also conducted successful pilot and field trials in all six districts of Nagpur Division to demonstrate the ease, speed, and transparency with which ‘Panchnamas’ could be done and approved at different levels using the ‘e-Panchnama’ application. The application has proved to be useful for farmers as well as the administration. Swadheen Kshatriya, former Chief Secretary of Maharashtra and Chairman of the IIPA-Maharashtra Regional Branch, has congratulated Bidari.