Chandigarh: Owing to the outstanding performance in the information technology (IT) sector during the last year's state assembly elections, Punjab has been selected for national award-2017. The award will be conferred by the President in New Delhi on the eve of National Voters Day on January 25.
The then DC-cum-district electoral officer of Nawanshahr district, Vipul Ujwal, will be given the award for his contribution in the development of an android Election Commission of India (ECI) application at the time of assembly polls. The app was unveiled at that time by chief election commissioner Nasim Zaidi. Ujwal said this mobile application could be downloaded from Google playstore and any information thereon could be obtained with regard to the ECI.
Ujwal's wife and IAS officer Sonali Giri was honoured with a national award in 2014 with regard to the IT sector. Both officers had also prepared Google toilet locator application in 2016, which is operating on national level and the data regarding public toilets was being uploaded on the application by the urban local bodies throughout the country. Ujwal's efforts have also resulted in starting of a novel project named 'Samarpan' in Hoshiarpur district, which has nearly 10,000 Good Samaritans as members. Under the project, the infrastructure in government schools of the district would also be improved.
The ECI has made selections for the National Award-2017 for exceptional performance in varied fields during the polls in seven states, including Punjab. Ujwal has been chosen for the special national award while Ludhiana DC Ravi Bhagat has been chosen in the general national award category. The other 10 officers selected for the national award-2017 hail from Gujarat, Manipur, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Goa.
