Governance at the Doorstep

Certificates, dispute resolution, and awareness campaigns are transforming Panchayat Ghars into hubs of service in South Kashmir.

- Mohammad Amin Mir

On a September morning, Nussu Badragund, a village in Tehsil Qazigund, was unusually lively. Men and women gathered outside the Panchayat Ghar, holding bundles of documents or folded applications.

Inside, Revenue Department officials moved steadily, distributing certificates, recording grievances, and resolving land disputes on the spot.

For villagers, this was more than administrative work.

Certificates that normally took weeks arrived within hours. Land disputes, lodged in files and courts for years, found resolution in a single sitting.

Governance was no longer distant. Officials were present, attentive, and directly engaged with the community.

The programme, running from September 17 to October 2, coincides with Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary. Gandhi believed India lives in its villages and that justice, services, and rights should be accessible to every villager.

By transforming Panchayat Ghars into hubs of administration, the Revenue Department in Anantnag is bridging this vision with the realities of Kashmir’s villages.