Chandigarh: About 35 per cent of Haryana’s total gram panchayats were found eligible for TB-free certification in 2025 after verification, Sumita Misra, Additional Chief Secretary of the health department said on Sunday.
According to Misra, the state has made significant strides under the TB Mukt Panchayat initiative with 2,157 of the 6,237 panchayats to be declared free of the disease.
The TB Mukt Panchayat initiative was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on World Tuberculosis Day at Varanasi on March 24, 2023.
The objective of the initiative is to empower Panchayati Raj Institutions to understand the extent and magnitude of problems associated with tuberculosis, take necessary actions toward solving them and create healthy competition among panchayats while appreciating their contribution toward TB elimination.
According to an official statement released here on Sunday, Misra said the growth in TB-free panchayat certifications under TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan over the past three years reflects the increasing momentum of the programme at the grassroots level.
In 2023, the state secured 574 certifications all in the ‘bronze’ category accounting for just nine per cent of total panchayats. By 2024, this figure nearly tripled to 1,855 panchayats, comprising 1,542 bronze and 313 silver certifications, covering 30 per cent of the state’s panchayats, she said.
In 2025, the tally has risen further to 2,157 eligible panchayats covering 35 per cent of the total.
Misra explained that the initiative follows a three-tier certification structure.
Panchayats maintaining TB-free status for the first year are eligible for bronze certification, those maintaining it for two consecutive years receive silver certification and those sustaining it for three consecutive years are awarded gold certification.
Certificates are issued annually on World TB Day by the deputy commissioner, with one-year validity.
Six indicators are used for submission and verification of claims, which are validated by the district development and Panchayati Raj officer, civil surgeon and deputy civil surgeon (TB) of another district, before a panchayat can be declared TB-free.
Of the 2,157 panchayats found eligible in 2025, 211 have qualified for gold status, 646 for silver status and 1,300 for bronze status.
Misra said the verification process ensures that only those panchayats that genuinely meet all six prescribed indicators (as per Government of India) are certified as TB-free, lending credibility and integrity to the programme.
She added that Haryana remains committed to accelerating progress under the TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan and that the consistent year-on-year growth in TB-free panchayat certifications reflects the active participation of local governance institutions in the state’s TB elimination efforts. PTI
