Chandigarh, Sept 8 — The Punjab Government is set to permit farmers to sell the sand left behind in their fields by receding floodwaters, a move aimed at easing the economic blow caused by the recent devastation across the state.
Senior AAP leader and Punjab affairs in-charge Manish Sisodia said Sunday that the state Cabinet would consider amending its mining policy at a meeting on Monday. “Farmers have not just lost the standing kharif crop, the deposit of excess sand will also make it impossible for them to grow the next crop,” he noted.
The decision comes as thousands of acres have been rendered uncultivable after heavy silt and sand deposits carried by the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej rivers covered farmland. Estimates suggest damage to nearly 4.30 lakh acres of paddy, cotton, maize, sugarcane and other kharif crops. Farmers have warned that if the deposits are not cleared, their financial burden will deepen.
Sisodia recalled his visits to flood-hit villages in Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur. “Farmers told me that unless they are allowed to remove and sell this sand, they will face even greater losses. The Chief Minister too received similar feedback,” he said. “He has expressed his wish to immediately change the policy and allow farmers to extract this sand from their fields and sell it.”
The Cabinet session comes a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to Punjab to assess flood damage.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who is recovering from a bacterial infection at a Mohali hospital, will participate in the meeting through videoconferencing. The hospital said Mann’s condition was stable and his vitals were normal. Sisodia, who met the CM on Saturday, added, “Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann discussed the issue of the unprecedented silt and sand deposition in the fields.”
Officials believe the Cabinet’s nod will offer farmers a source of relief while also addressing the issue of unusable land in flood-affected regions.
