Shimla, Feb 5 (IANS) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal Friday honoured 253 gram panchayats of the state, an official release said.

'The chief minister conferred the Nirmal Gram Puruskar-2009 award on 253 gram panchayats at a state-level function held at Mandi town. The panchayats were given cash prizes ranging from Rs.50,000 to Rs.500,000,' the release said.

Speaking on the occasion, Dhumal said 2,097 gram panchayats had emerged as 'Nirmal Gram Panchayats' last month and the state was poised to become completely free of open defecation by the end of the year.

He also launched the school water harvesting scheme, under which rain water harvesting infrastructure would be developed in schools under the central government flagship rural employment programme, MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme).

Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Jai Ram Thakur said Rs.450 crore would be spent under MGNREGS during this financial year.