More villages come under his project.

Former President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said more and more villagers must be connected with the “Smartgram” project to ensure peaceful, happy and prosperous villages.

He was addressing a gathering from Harchandpur, Alipur and Naya Gaon villages at a function to mark their adoption by his foundation.

Mr. Mukherjee said that he had adopted the villages as he wanted the standard of living of the people living there to be on a par with that in the cities.

The Rasthrapati Bhavan Secretariat had adopted five villages in Haryana as part of this initiative and now its numbers had swollen to 100.

The Pranab Mukherjee Foundation has initiated work for better education facilities in 64 of the total 100 villages adopted by it. Besides, 15 centres have been opened in these villages to disseminate information about organic farming. Seven health centres and five water ATMs have been set up.

Mr. Mukherjee, along with Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, inaugurated a Smartgram Partner Processing Centre at Harchandpur, Training and Innovation Warehouse at Alipur and water ATM at Naya Gaon.