35 gram panchayats of 16 districts have been announced as smart villages under the smart village scheme that facilitates the Rurban concept of ATMA village given by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi
The Smart Village will be awarded amount of five lakh rupees, which will be used in self-funding for the development works of the Gram Panchayat
A village in a taluka will become a smart village and act as an ‘action laboratory’ for other areas – with the aim of good governance and development as a tourism destination
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Gandhinagar, Sunday: Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Bhupendra Patel has declared 35 villages in 16 districts as smart villages with the developmental approach of making one village smart village per taluka in the state. These villages are selected villages under the Smart Village Incentive Scheme of the State Government.
For the overall development of these villages selected in the Smart Village Incentive Scheme, the Gram Panchayat will be given an award amount of five lakh rupees. Not only this, this award will be part of the self-funding of these villages for development works.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given the idea of Rurban-Atma Village to Facilitate City with the aim of making the villages of Gujarat smart, sustainable and convenient on par with cities.
Chief Minister Shri Bhupendra Patel has extended the Smart Village Incentive Scheme in a more comprehensive manner, taking forward this ideology of the Prime Minister.
In the Smart Village Scheme prepared under the direction of the Chief Minister, the criteria for the selection of such Smart Villages have been set, with the aim of utilizing advanced technology in the village, improving the quality of life of the villagers by maintaining the rural lifestyle and providing infrastructure facilities along with enhancing the economic, social and environmental value of the village.
It is also intended that such a smart village will develop as a model village and tourism destination of “good governance” for other villages and act as an action laboratory.
Chief Minister has declared 35 Gram Panchayats of 16 districts as Smart Villages which include
The criteria for selection of such a smart village are that the village is connected by a road, very close to the road, the village is on the state highway as far as possible, basic amenities include paved roads and drainage system, street lights and complete sanitation and the population of the village is between 2000 to 6000.
11 criteria that villages with these standards have fulfilled. These include (1) Nice Gram Vatika/Garden (2) Mandatory door to door collection (3) Drinking water tap connection to every household (4) Panchayat tax collection (5) No ruts on roads and regular cleaning of roads (6) Smart e – Facility of Village Center (7) Solar Rooftop on Gram Panchayat Office (8) Open Defecation Free Village (9) Regularity of light bill payment by Gram Panchayat (10) Drainage in village (11) Paved village roads etc. are covered.
Year 2022-23 was taken as the base year in filling the prescribed form for participating in the competition by Gram Panchayats fulfilling such 11 criteria.
On the basis of this form, the selection of smart villages on the basis of merit has been done through the district level committee. Gram Panchayats securing 90% marks have been released only after third party verification.
After completion of this entire implementation process, one gram panchayat per taluka has been declared as a smart village based on the maximum marks among those gram panchayats which have obtained minimum 90 marks.
Source: Information Department, Gujarat