Silt removal from flooded agri land exempted from royalty for 2 months

Gandhinagar: Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani today announced another relief for the flood-hit Banaskantha and Patan districts. He exempted contractors from paying royalty for removing silt (sand and clay) from agricultural land, left behind by floodwaters. It is for a period of two months. The objective is to make the farmland cultivable again, fast.

During his five-day stay in the recent heavy rains’ worst hit districts, he had observed that large tracts of farmland have been rendered uncultivable due to the floodwaters spreading sheet of silt. This temporary relief would not require any environmental or mining department clearance.

The state government has directed the district administration to depute staff from the Geology and Mining Department without delay to prepare the land for cultivation again.

He said that the respective Collectors have been authorized to permit each contractor, or even farmers or anybody else, quarry up to 20,000 Metric Tonnes (MT) from the affected areas without paying any royalty. This is equal to 5,000 ferries by 4-MT tractor trolleys, or 2,000 ferries by 10-MT truck, or 1,250 ferries by 16-MT truck. The debris thus collected could be sold by the contractors.

DeshGujarat