Chandigarh, Sept. 13 — The Punjab government on Friday rolled out a standard operating procedure (SOP) for its one-time scheme that allows flood-affected farmers to mine and sell silt deposited on their fields by swollen rivers without permits or royalty.
The initiative, titled “Jisda Khet, Usdi Ret” (whose land, his sand), was approved by the state Cabinet on Sept. 8 and will remain valid until Dec. 31. It is aimed at helping cultivators recover from the state’s worst floods in decades, which damaged standing crops across 4.81 lakh acres and left large tracts buried under layers of sand and silt.
According to the SOP, affected farmers will not require environmental clearance, green permits, or royalty payments to dispose of the sand and silt. The exercise will be monitored by district mining officers and committees, who can also connect farmers with contractors if manual removal proves difficult.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said the scheme was designed to speed up recovery and ensure that fields are fit for sowing the upcoming rabi crop. “Clearing the fields so that farmers can cultivate again is our government’s top priority,” he said. “I know it is a daunting task, but Punjabis have the will power and strength to overcome the challenge.”
Mann urged even those not directly affected by floods to join in the effort. “Wherever the level of silt is higher, deputy commissioners can decide on using excavators. Heavy machinery will be placed at their disposal,” he noted.
Officials clarified that excavators would be used primarily in residential areas, while in the fields tractors fitted with disc harrows would be deployed. “There are enough tractors with disc harrows available across the state,” an official said. “Only in select areas with deeper silt deposits can DCs allow excavators, and that too sparingly.” The restriction, officials explained, is meant to prevent indiscriminate mining of soil that could leave craters in agricultural land.
At present, authorities are waiting for water to fully recede in several districts to assess the volume of deposits. The heaviest silt accumulation has been reported in Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Fazilka, Hoshiarpur, and Kapurthala.
Alongside the scheme, the government has fixed compensation norms under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). Farmers will be eligible for financial aid of ₹18,000 per hectare for desilting agricultural land and ₹47,000 per hectare for land lost due to changes in the river’s course.
Officials said the combined measures — the SOP, free mining rights, and SDRF compensation — are expected to give significant relief to thousands of families who lost crops and farmland in this year’s devastating floods.
