If Baben village, which is located 2km from Bardoli town in Surat district, is today considered one of the best villages of the state Baben was declared the best village in the state when Bhavesh Patel was its sarpanch in 2010-11. And this year, his wife Falguni Patel has been elected sarpanch of the village.
Baben village, which is located near Bardoli typifies development. Here villagers enjoy all the facilities that one living in the city does. The 2-km road from Bardoli to Baben gives a commuter the feeling of passing through a highway. This is because the village road is 12 metre wide and is well lit with street lights. This road has not been laid with government money, but the fund for it was raised through various ingenious schemes by the villagers. "We take contributions from real estate developers, who come to develop land and houses in the village and use that money to develop basic amenities for the residents of the village," said Baben gram panchayat president Bhavesh Patel.
The village panchayat collected Rs 3 crore in the past five years from the real estate developers and used that money on roads, street lights, a lake, public toilets, drainage and water system for the 15,000 people of Baben. The village also has a degree and diploma engineering college, a school and a restaurant.
A developer is charged Rs 2,000 per plot. The buyer of the plot, too, is charged the same amount by the village panchayat. "When someone buys a flat or plot worth Rs 25 lakh in Baben, he doesn't mind paying Rs 2,000 as development fund for the village," said Iswar Parmar, Bardoli MLA, who is a former gram panchayat member. Dilip Patel, who developed Avadh Lake City in Baben, said, "When we wanted to develop this farmhouse scheme in the village, some farmers did not want to sell their land initially. However, they came around and sold their land to us after some time. "Our maximum emphasis is on cleanliness," said Patel. Baben village got the best gram panchayat of the