West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Sunday that her government's school, higher education, and tourism sectors won gold at the Skoch award. The Skoch award, established in 2003, honours achievements in digital, financial, and social inclusion, as well as governance, inclusive growth, technology and applications, and corporate leadership.
'School Education Department and Higher Education Department of GoWB - both have won the prestigious SKOCH GOLD awards. Heartiest congratulations to all officials and members for this remarkable achievement,'' Chief Minister Banerjee wrote on Twitter.
State Education Minister Bratya Basu also expressed happiness over the achievements and complimented all the stakeholders in the sector, including teachers, officials and students, for their efforts and services to ensure that teaching activities do not get hampered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
''Happy to share that the Tourism Department of GoWB has received the esteemed SKOCH GOLD award for transformational performance during #COVID19! Congratulations to all officials and members for your hard work and dedication. Let us keep aiming higher,'' Ms Banerjee also said on the microblogging site.
West Bengal Power Minister Aroop Biswas denied the allegations and said the Skoch gold award is an important honour for every recipient who meets certain criteria and benchmarks. "The BJP was rejected by people of the state in the last assembly elections," he added. Notably, the central government's tribal affairs ministry had received the 'Skoch challenger' award for its performance in e-governance earlier this year, while Maharashtra's rural development and Haryana's industries and commerce departments had also won the award for liability register payment system and ease of doing business respectively.