Surat : Palsana Gram Panchayat Wins National e-Governance Award 2025 for Digital Innovation

Surat | Gujarat — Palsana Gram Panchayat of Surat district has been selected for the National e-Governance Awards (NAeG) 2025 by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj. The award, which is being organized for the first time to promote digital governance at the village level, will be given to other panchayats of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tripura and Odisha besides Gujarat. 

The award distribution ceremony will be held during the 28th National e-Governance Conference to be held in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh on September 22-23, 2025.

This effort of Palsana Gram Panchayat in Surat is a strong step towards “Digital India”. Here, under the E-Gram project, all the digital services of the government are delivered to the villagers at their doorsteps. Through portals like NEOR, Digital Gujarat, e-Id and PM Kisan, villagers can get services like birth and death certificates, income proof, ration card, widow and elderly assistance, light bill, land records and MNREGA job card.

Regarding this development of Palsana Gram Panchayat, Sarpanch Praveen P. Ahir said, “In addition to basic facilities in our village, I have developed a website of the Gram Panchayat as an initiative, on which citizens can upload photos of problems like sanitation, electricity or water and the Panchayat tries to resolve them immediately.”

According to Talati Pinak Modi, birth and death registration in the village is done instantly through the e-Identity portal and birth certificates are issued immediately after verification.

Taxes are also paid digitally in Palsana. Tax demand is generated through the Gram Suvidha portal, which is informed to the citizens through mobile. Now villagers can easily pay property tax and other taxes through UPI and QR code.

The village is also moving forward in the field of education. Children are given video-based education through smart classrooms in the schools here. In terms of security, all areas of the village are monitored by CCTV, the live monitoring of which is possible from both the Gram Panchayat office and the local police station. As a result, crime has reduced and the village has become safer.

To address challenges like lack of digital literacy and budget constraints, the Gram Panchayat has taken initiatives like awareness programs, financial assistance, helpdesks and placing QR codes at various places, which has brought digital awareness in the village.

Palsana Gram Panchayat is providing an excellent example of “Good Governance” with good governance, transparency and citizen participation.