Gandhinagar: Gujarat government has declared 16 more villages as Smart Village across five district.

The villages are Raydi, Thanagalol, Virnagar, Anandpara(Nava), Satapara, Lodhika in Rajkot district , Chorwadi, Samadhiyala, Dhandhusar, Matiyana, Balagam in Junagadh district, Pipar, Vakiya, Sidsar in Jamnagar district, Adtala in Botad district and Mahuvar in Navsari district.

Gram Panchayat of each smart village will get Rs. 5 lakh as part of self-fund for development of village.

The parameters of selection of Smart village include, road connectivity, proximity to road, location on state highway, pakka road and gutter system, street light and regular cleaning along with the population of village which should be between 2,000 to 6,000.

Such villages that have completed 11 initiatives – Saras Gram vatika/garden, compulsory door to door waste collection, each house connected to drinking water line with tap, panchayat tax collection, no garbage on road and regular cleaning of roads, smart e-gram facility, solar rooftop on gram panchayat office, open defecation free village, regular light bill payment by gram panchayat, gutter, pakka roads of Gaam tal.

The villages that fulfil such parameters filled forms, after which taluka level committee paid visit to them. The villages that achieved 90 percent or more marks, were further put under third-party verification. After this process, the villages that achieved highest marks were declared Smart Villages per taluka. DeshGujarat