Mumbai, March 12 (IANS) Observing that people were fed up with corruption in public life, Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan Saturday made a strong plea for ending the menace.

"People are fed up of corruption. It is preventing the fruits of development from reaching the poor. We must put an end to corruption through collective efforts," the governor told panchayat heads and officials.

Sankaranarayanan urged the state government to reward the panchayat bodies which scored high on good governance.

He was speaking at a function here Saturday afternoon to give away the Y.B. Chavan Awards to the best Panchayati Raj institutions in the state. Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar also attended.

Forty-five zila parishads, panchayat samitis, gram panchayats and their elected heads and officials were felicitated under the Yashwant Panchayat Raj Abhiyan on the occasion of the 98th birth anniversary of the state's first chief minister late Y.B. Chavan.