In a historic decision, the Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Monday gave nod to one-time pro-people measure ‘Jehda Khet, Ohdi Ret’ to enable the farmers to remove sand and silt accumulated due to floods in their fields and sell them if they desire.
A decision to this effect was taken by the Council of Ministers in its meeting held here under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, who joined it virtually from Fortis Hospital, where he was undergoing treatment.
Disclosing this here today a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said that due to the floods, sand and silt have accumulated in several fields at the inundated villages. Therefore, in a major reprieve to the farmers it has been decided that farmers will be allowed to remove sand and silt from their own fields, and they may sell it if they wish.
The removal of silt/sand/river borne material from agricultural land by way of this “one time measure” shall not be considered mining of minerals. The concerned Deputy Commissioner shall declare the list of affected villages in a district where the operation of removal and lifting of deposited silt/sand/river borne material may be done by the affected farmers/cultivators/group of farmers affected by flood material deposition.
To mitigate the impact of the recent floods, all District Mining Officers as well as District Level and Sub-Divisional Level Monitoring Committees shall facilitate the removal and lifting of such silt/sand/river borne material deposits on the affected cultivable lands, without disturbance of the original ground surface by way of pits, trenches or otherwise.
Further dwelling on the agenda of crop damage, the Cabinet decided that the Punjab government will provide compensation of up to Rs 20,000 per acre, which is not the highest in the history of Punjab, but it is the highest in the entire country. This is in consonance with the commitment of the state government to bail out the farmers of Punjab in this hour of grave crisis.
The Cabinet approved an Amendment to the Punjab Town Improvement Act, 1922 to enable the urban local bodies of the State to utilize funds of the Improvement Trusts through the Municipal Development Fund, which was established by the State Government to undertake urban infrastructure works for which allocation is received from the State Budget every year.
In order to enable utilization of funds received by the Improvement Trusts through disposal of their properties for undertaking urban infrastructure works by the urban local bodies of the State, clause 69B has been added in the act thereby stipulating that such portion of money, as may be prescribed, received by the Trust from the disposal of lands, buildings and other moveable or immovable properties shall be transferred towards the Municipal Development Fund.
The Cabinet also granted prosecution sanction against former Punjab Minister Bikram Singh Majithia u/s 19 of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988. As per advice of the Advocate General (AG), Punjab, the matter with regard to granting of prosecution sanction of the former Minister first needs to be discussed in the Council of Ministers and thereafter it will be sent to the Governor for passing of formal order.
The Cabinet also gave signal to the Custom Milling Policy for Kharif Marketing Season 2025-26 starting from September 16, 2025 and the procurement of paddy would be completed up to November 30, 2025. As per the provisions of “The Punjab Custom Milling Policy for Kharif 2025-26”, the Rice Mills will be linked online to the mandis in time by the Department.
With the aim to allot the mines in a more efficient manner, generate more revenue and increase more supply of material, the Cabinet gave nod to make amendments in Punjab State Minor Mineral Policy, 2023 and relevant rules of Punjab Minor Minerals Rules, 2013.
The trust will prepare vision, mission plants, master plan for exploration, fund exploration of forest area, facilitate surveys, organize capacity building programs, undertake R&D, strengthen and upgrade the Department laboratory, appoint officers and technical persons, develop State Mineral Directory, introduce innovation, provide logistics support for exploration projects, monitor mining and related activities through technology and others.
The Cabinet also gave its concurrence to create 1007 posts in the School Education department and Regularization of Services of Non-Teaching staff under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) against these posts.
This will pave the way for the long-awaited regularization to non-teaching SSA employees and will strengthen the administrative functioning of the education department by integrating experienced personnel in the Government structure and avoiding further litigation. The Cabinet also gave nod to amend Punjab Education Service Rules 2018 to further streamline the process of promotions in the Education department.