UNITED NATIONS PUBLIC SERVICE AWARDS 2013

       The United Nations Public Service Awards is the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service. It rewards the creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions that lead to a more effective and responsive public administration in countries worldwide. Through an annual competition, the UN Public Service Awards promotes the role, professionalism and visibility of public service. The United Nation Public Service Day is celebrated on June 23 of every year.

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Chief minister of Kerala Oommen Chandy received the United Nation’s Global Award for Public Service [ranked 1^st category 1- Preventing and Combating Corruption inPublic Service] from UN Under Secretary General Wu Hongbo at a special ceremony in Bahrain on Thursday.

The award was given at the valedictory function of the UN public service forum and awards ceremony.  The chief minister was selected for his mass contact programme from among the entries of 50 Asia - Pacific countries.

The mass contact programme has been widely hailed as a unique democratic experiment during which he received 5.5 lakh petitions and of which three lakhs were resolved and financial assistance worth Rs 22.68 crore was distributed.

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Senior IAS officer Ajoy Kumar Singh won the United Nations Public Service Award (UNPSA) – 2013 [ranked 2^nd in category 2 – Improving the Delivary of Services] for Swavalamban, an online old-age pension payment and monitoring system, at Manama in Bahrain. The programme was initiated by him during his stint as deputy commissioner of Dhanbad.

The pension portal was selected for the international award in the category of public service delivery of the Asia-Pacific region. It is the most revered UN award for excellence in public service. The system was developed and introduced by Singh with support from the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and has been helping hundreds of beneficiaries of pension scheme through quick disposal of dues. It's transparency ensures that its free from corruption.

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Department of cottage and rural industries won the united nations public service award [2^nd ranked category 5- Promoting Gender-Responsive Delivery of Public Services] for the initiative graamin haat.

PIR PANJAL RAILWAY TUNNEL

The Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel or Banihal railway tunnel is a 11.215 km (7 mile) railway tunnel located in Pir Panjal Range of middle Himalayas in Jammu and Kashmir, India north of Banihal town. It is India's longest and Asia's second longest railway tunnel. It is below the existing road tunnel, the Jawahar Tunnel. The tunnel has been constructed by HCC for IRCON , a PSU , as a part of its Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project with a cost of 1672 crores.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi flagged off the first train from Banihal, a town in Ramban district of the Jammu region, to Qazigund in the Kashmir valley, passing through a tunnel in the Pir Panchal range on june 26.

They enjoyed the 12-minute ride to Qazigund with 100 students, mostly girls, of the Banihal Higher Secondary School, and made the 17.8-km ride back to Banihal, passing through the tunnel, the second longest in Asia. Those who accompanied them were Governor N.N. Vohra, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge and Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

The train services will be run between Banhilal-Baramulla    in north Kashmir from june 27.