Farmers can sell sand that got deposited in fields during floods: Punjab CM

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday said farmers can sell sand which got deposited in their fields along the Sutlej and Beas rivers during last year's floods.

Mann stated this on the second day of the budget session in the Punjab assembly after Independent MLA Rana Inder Partap Singh raised the issue. The legislator from Sultanpur Lodhi said that four to five feet of sand got deposited in agriculture fields in some villages of his assembly constituency following floods.

The chief minister said the state government will allow farmers to sell up to four feet of sand that got deposited in their fields during the floods last year.

"This sand will belong to the landowners and the state government will not charge any tax on it," said Mann, adding that a notification in this regard will be issued soon.

Meanwhile, while participating in the discussion on the governor's address, Punjab Cabinet minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said the AAP government created a "record of development" in the state in the past two years and got 12000 acres of encroached panchayat land freed.

He alleged that the previous dispensations did nothing in the state.

Deputy Speaker Jai Kishan Rori also participated in the debate on the governor's address. The speaker asked him to shift to another chair from the seat earmarked for the deputy speaker of the House to participate in the discussion.

AAP MLA Sarvjit Kaur Maunke gave details about government jobs provided to the youths and stated that the state government, a few days ago, dedicated the 'Punjab Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences' to the people.

Inderjit Kaur Mann, a legislator of the ruling AAP, spoke about setting up a road safety force by the state government to check road accidents and streamline traffic movement. She said more than 18,000 FIRs have been registered against drug smugglers in the state ever since the AAP came to power.

Shiromani Akali Dal legislator Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi accused the AAP government of not building a new school in the state yet.

Congress MLA Sandeep Jakhar demanded that the state government come out with an agriculture policy. He also demanded a roadmap for addressing key issues of the farming sector and expressed concerns about the depleting underground water table in the state.